Love Under a Bloodred Sky
by Miss Saigon11
Summary: He was sent to the camp for some shaping up. She was the grand-daughter of the headmisstress of the camp. When the will of fate forces them together, who knew they'd meet under circumstances so....strange.
1. Summer Camp by the Lake

**Hello again, or nice to meet you! Miss Saigon11 here! Welcome to my new story Love Under a Bloodred Sky. It's another Inuyasha fanfic this time taking place in the present during summer at a camp and it's a murder mystery! Yes, someone dies but do we know them? Nobody knows....(I do! But I'm not saying!)**

**And to those of you who are currenty reading One Day, One Night, don't worry. I haven't given up on it. I just couldn't get this idea out of my head so I had to make it. So I'll be writting both stories in tandum! Whic begs the question; can I do it? Do I have the metabalism, the stamina, the will, and the sugar to do it? I hope so.**

**So onward! **

**Flames are welcome.**

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Chapter 1: Summer Camp by the Lake

There he lay, the intoxicating darkness surrounds him, binding him like iron chains. He doesn't move, not even a little as the lustful darkness swirls around him. To him, all meaning of time and space is nothing but a distant memory, begging to return. But, although the darkness may have numbed him, the chronic noise had never ceased to bring him back to the forces of reality.

The constant beeping of his alarm clock is what brought him back from the sweet slumber that had overtaken him. Half awake already, he swung his arm over the machine and brought it down on the off button. He rolled off the mattress and onto the floor, grunting in the process. His name was Inuyasha, and today was the beginning of summer, or, as Inuyasha puts it, the beginning of hell.

Inuyasha hoisted himself into a sitting position. He scratched his head and looked at the alarm clock, though he knew all too well what time it was. The clock read 4:30, a good three hours earlier then when he normally wakes up.

"Dammit." He mumbled in a voice that was almost inaudible.

Suddenly, the darkness disappeared and was replaced by a blinding white light.

"Good," a male voice said from behind him. "You're up." The voice continued, harsh and unforgiving.

Inuyasha sluggishly turned around to face his older half-brother Sesshomaru. Although he was only half, the two brothers looked almost exactly alike. They both had the same long silver hair, the same golden eyes, and the same well-toned body. The only thing that set them apart was that Sesshomaru was a full-blooded demon while Inuyasha was just half.

"Now get a move on." Sesshomaru commanded. "The bus will be here in an hour."

Inuyasha moaned. "I still don't see why I have to go to this stupid camp. What am I, four?"

"Based on the way you were acting last week? No, you're not four. You're two!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Inuyasha retaliated, standing up. He stuck his hand out to the floor lamp to balance himself from the sudden head rush.

Sesshomaru leaned against the door frame. "You punched a third year in the mouth! You knocked out some of his teeth! An upper-classman! That was your third offense that year! You're lucky I was there to convince the judge to let you off easy with just this camp!"

"Commoner's camp, I might add." Inuyasha said commoner as if it were the dirtiest word in the world. Sesshomaru was the head of a very important organization. It was the main supplier of Japan's military. No matter what, Sesshomaru was consulted with every military decision. He may not have the final say, but his word was always strongly acknowledged.

Inuyasha continued with his complaint. "If you're so rich, why didn't you send me to some elite camp? At least there I won't have to listen to all those losers gush about how—and I quote—'beautiful' the scenery is." He rolled his eyes in disgust.

Sesshomaru laughed. It wasn't pleasant. Short. Cold. Unfeeling. "And let you spend four months in the lap of luxury? No way. You wouldn't learn a thing. You'd probably hit a sixth grader next. Now get going! You wasted 15 minutes on this pointless argument!" Sesshomaru slammed the door shut as Inuyasha threw his shoe at it.

"As if I'd beat up an elementary brat! That's low!" Inuyasha growled and kicked his mattress.

_'Damn that Sesshomaru!' _Inuyasha thought bitterly as he entered his private bathroom.

He stood in front of the mirror, staring at his reflection. The dog ears on the top of his head—a constant reminder of what he is—twitched. He flicked them once then closed his eyes.

He felt a sense of change wash over him. The prickling heat started at the top of his scalp and made a slow and steady crawl down his body. Faster and faster the heat went until he could no longer feel his claws on the porcelain sink or his fangs pinch against his bottom lip. Slowly, he opened his eyes and found two violet-black orbs staring back. Inuyasha had turned himself into a human.

Though he unwillingly turned into a human on every night of the full moon, changing willingly was a skill he was forced to learn if he wanted to keep is friends and family safe from full-blooded demon attacks. Not to mention to keep his brother's multi-million organization free from scandal. If word got out that Sesshomaru's family had a half-demon in it, they would be ruined for sure.

As Inuyasha ran his claw-less fingers through his deep black hair, he caught himself remembering the way his silver hair used to shine in the light. Yes, he must admit; he missed his silver hair. Inuyasha shook his mind free of those thoughts. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stepped into the shower.

Inuyasha tried to rush everything, but the shower was the one thing that refused to be rushed, no matter how hard he tried. The feeling of the hot, steamy water pouring against his skin unlocked his joints and relaxed his tense muscles. As soon as he was done, he stepped out of the shower, feeling fresh and rejuvenated.

Inuyasha exited to bathroom and checked the time. The tense feeling washed over him again. The clock read 5:15!

"Dammit!" Inuyasha cursed out loud. "I've got 15 minutes until the damned bus gets here!"

He ran to his dresser and yanked the drawer out of its frame. The drawer fell to the floor and missed Inuyasha's foot by inches. Inuyasha swore again and decided to yank out every drawer.

_'The maids will clean it up.' _He thought as he dug through piles of clothes he decided not to take with him.

Inuyasha pulled a red football jersey that had Akaitori and a picture of a red bird on the front over his head and yanked on a pair of dark wash jeans. He shoved on his shoes, not bothering to put on any socks.

"Hitome!" he shouted, running down the hall. "Where's my—"

"Right here." A petite woman said, popping up right in front of Inuyasha. She handed him his black leather jacket.

"Thanks." Inuyasha said, sliding his arms through the sleeves. "What about—"

"On the table in the foyer. And—" she reached around herself to her back pocket and pulled out a black sidekick. "Here's your sidekick." Hitome dropped the electronic into Inuyasha's open palm.

"Thanks." Inuyasha dropped it in his jacket pocket. "You always know what I need."

Hitome bowed. "It's my job to know, sir."

As Hitome scurried away, off to take care of another situation, begging her attention, Inuyasha started to wonder how he was going to survive the next four months without people at his beck and call. The loud sound of a Greyhound's horn snapped Inuyasha out of his thoughts.

"Dammit!" Inuyasha charged down the hall at an all out sprint. He turned corners, weaving in and out of corridors that led to the front door. Running down stairs, skipping two at a time, striving for more time, avoiding servants as they hurried about, starting their day. Bursting through the doors to the great hall and racing down the long empty space. Pushing the double doors open and entering the foyer. The Greyhound sounded again and Inuyasha ran for the door, stopping only to pick up his aviators of the small table next to the door. In one swift motion, Inuyasha slid his sunglasses on over his eyes and pushed the front door open. With the Greyhound in sight, Inuyasha walked swiftly to the gate.

Two butlers were standing at the front door's threshold, struggling with Inuyasha's two travel suitcases.

"S-sir! Your luggage!" one of them called.

Inuyasha took off his aviators and yelled over his shoulder. "They go in the bus behind the first one!" He turned away and slid his glasses back on.

"Wait!" a perky and bubbly voice called out. Inuyasha turned to see Rin, Sesshomaru's new wife, running happily behind him.

He sighed. "Rin, I'm going to be late."

Rin didn't say anything. She just stood on her toes to give Inuyasha a hug. Inuyasha stiffened at the sudden move of affection.

"Ohh, I'm gonna miss you!"

Inuyasha pushed Rin off him. "Please don't do that. It's way too early." Inuyasha griped.

Rin stuck out her bottom lip in a pretend pout. "Oh please don't be so grouchy! You know I can't smile when people are unhappy and it's very hard to talk wif my mouf like dis."

Inuyasha couldn't help but smile slightly at his half-sister-in-law's quirkiness. In the four short weeks that Inuyasha has known her, he began to like her. He didn't like her at first because she was annoying, but she had grown on him.

Inuyasha laughed once. "Alright, alright." Rin smiled and hugged him again. "Jeeze, it's not like you're never gonna see me again! Don't forget that in two months you can visit me on the day when parents and guardians come to the camp."

Rin pulled away. "I know, I know. It's just that I've grown too really like you in these past four weeks." She fake sniffled. "Who am I going to pick on? You know Sesshy hates pranks!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you'll find _something _to do. You're Rin after all." The Greyhound's horn blared again. "Hey, I gotta go. See ya in two months." Inuyasha started for the bus again.

"Wait!" Rin called. "I want to go over it again!"

"Why? We spent hours on it!"

"What happens when someone asks you your relationship to Sesshomaru?"

Inuyasha groaned. "Rin—"

_"What happens when someone asks you your relationship to Sesshomaru?"_ Rin pressed.

Inuyasha sighed. "I tell them that I'm your younger brother."

"And if they know that you've been living with him before we got married?"

"I say still say that you're my sister and that Sesshomaru's a family friend and you couldn't support me so you asked him to take care of me. Can I go now?" Rin nodded yes and Inuyasha finally made it to the bus.

The bus driver greeted him with a smile that said _I-really-don't-want-to-be-here-smiling-at-you-but-I-wil-cause-it's-my-job._ "Good morning." She said kindly.

"Feh." Was Inuyasha's only reply.

The bus driver's smile morphed in to a scowl as Inuyasha made his way to the back of the bus. He collapsed down on the seat and immediately fell asleep.

* * *

Light was shining brightly behind his closed eyes. Slowly, Inuyasha lifted his eyelids and was greeted with the morning sun. The time was now 7:00. Inuyasha yawned and shifted his sitting position so he was sitting up straight.

"Finally you're up!" a voice from beside him said. Inuyasha turned to see his best—and equally rich—friend Miroku grinning at him. Miroku's father was the head of a popular business that rolled in a bunch of money. He didn't have the same status as Sesshomaru, but they were of the same class.

"I got on the bus at 6:00 only to find you out like a light." Miroku wagged a black sharpie in Inuyasha's face. "I almost drew a moustache on ya."

Out of annoyance, Inuyasha grabbed the marker out of his friend's hand, opened the window and threw the sharpie as far as his human body aloud him.

"Well you just got rid of our only means of fun."

Inuyasha crossed his arms and scoffed at his friend's childishness as the bus slowly rolled to a stop. He looked out the window and found that they were in the part of town where the commoners lived. As he was taking in the pathetic state of where the commoners lived, he spied a girl checking him out. To show the girl that he was way out of her league and to remind her of her place, he purposely whipped out his sidekick and pretended to send a text. The girl got the hint, and hurried away, embarrassed.

A chorus of squeals and high-pitched greetings erupted from the front as the passenger got on. The passenger was a tall, slender girl with hair and intense shade of brunette. Her light brown eyes sparkled with flecks of gold. She made her way down the aisle and sat at the seat in the middle.

Miroku's eyebrows had risen the moment she stepped on the bus. He leaned toward Inuyasha. "She's kinda cute."

"So go talk to her." Inuyasha responded halfheartedly. He was too absorbed in the game he was playing on his sidekick.

Miroku sighed at his friend's lack of interest. Normally if Miroku had said a commoner was cute, Inuyasha would go on and on about why rich guys didn't date poor girls. Emphasis on the poor. Miroku shrugged and decided that it was one pointless lecture he could afford to miss. Thinking of a pick-up line, he strode down the aisle and sat in the seat right behind the girl.

"Excuse me," Miroku said, tapping the girl on the shoulder.

The girl turned around and the sound of his voice and the feel of his finger. Her light brown and gold-speckled eyes locked in with Miroku's deep cobalt blue eyes.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help but notice how your pretty eyes sparkle in the sunlight." A light pink blush crept up the girl's neck and settled on her face.

"Sango! Hey, Sango!" a small fox demon gushed. He bounded up onto the seat next to the girl known a Sango.

Sango smiled warmly at the kid. "Hello, Shippo. It's nice to see you again."

"So, your name's Sango?" Miroku asked a little annoyed at the kid for interrupting them. Sango nodded. "Yes. And this," she gestured to the fox demon, "is Shippo."

Miroku nodded. "I'm Miroku. It's nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand. Sango took it and gave a gentle shake.

Sango drew her hand back. "I don't believe you've been to this camp to this camp before."

"That's right." Miroku commended. "My friend and I are new here." He pointed back at Inuyasha who had a shocked look on his face from his unexpected death in his game.

Sango's eyes narrowed. "Oh. So are you the delinquents I was told about?"

Miroku chuckled. "Actually that's just Inuyasha. I'm here because he's been my friend since we were kids."

"So, Sango," Shippo said, tugging on her cami-solo. "Have you heard from Kagome yet?"

"Oh, that's right. She called me about 30 minutes ago."

Shippo's eyes widened. "Really?! What'd she say, what'd she say?!"

"She said she couldn't wait to come back and see us all."

Shippo's smile faltered a bit. "Is that it?"

"Well we talked about other things, mostly girl stuff."

"Like what?"

"Not telling!" Sango giggled.

Shippo stuck out his bottom lip. "I'm so jelouse of you, Sango."

Sango's eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Why's that?"

"'Cause you're friends with Kagome."

"You're friends with her too."

"Yeah, but not like you. You know a whole other side to her. You know her secrets."

"I'm sure she has her own share of secrets she won't even tell me."

"That's dumb." Shippo said. He began playing with his shoe lace. "Keeping secrets from your best friend."

"Is it? I'm not so sure." Everyone looked up to see that Inuyasha had joined their conversation. He and Miroku shared a knowing look. Outside of his family, Miroku was the only one who knew Inuyasha's secret.

"Everyone has their secrets." Inuyasha continued. "Sometimes the truth is just too much for people to handle." He plopped down on the seat next to Miroku.

"Wait," Miroku held up a hand. "Does that you have some secrets that you haven't told me?"

"Yup."

"What are they? Tell me!"

Inuyasha shoved Miroku into the wall of the bus. "If I told you, they wouldn't be secret, would they?" he let Miroku go.

"Um," Sango said, trying to get Inuyasha's attention. It worked.

"Yeah? You want something?"

Sango shrunk back a bit under Inuyasha's hard gaze. "Um, w-what exactly did you do?"

Inuyasha didn't need that to be specified. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "I'm a second-year student and I punched a third-year student and knocked out some of his teeth. It was my third offense that year."

Sango gasped. "Y-you did what?!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Inuyasha snapped.

"Oh so you accidentally knocked out his teeth?!"

Inuyasha started to say something then stopped. "You know what? I don't have to tell you anything. The judge didn't believe me. Sesshomaru didn't believe me. Why should you?"

It was silent as the two teens stared each other down, as Miroku tried to think of a way to calm everyone down, and as Shippo stared from Inuyasha to Miroku to Sango and back again.

"So," Miroku said, trying to move things along. "Who's this 'Kagome' chick you mentioned earlier?"

"She's someone everyone looks up to." Sango answered, tearing her eyes away from Inuyasha to look at Miroku. "Whenever you're feeling, bad, sad, or scared, you can pour your heart out to her and she'll listen. She'll listen to you and accept you. She always knows exactly what to say and what to do."

"So you're saying she never gets mad, or yells?" Inuyasha asked.

"She won't if you're a little kid. If you're not she'll give you a what-for if you make her mad. It's not fun."

Miroku nodded, taking all this in. He turned to Inuyasha. "Hey, sounds like your kind of girl."

"_My _kind of girl?" Inuyasha scoffed. "Hell no! There's no way she'll accept _every_one. That's impossible. And what's with not getting mad at little kids? You gotta teach kids their place, even if you gotta whip them into shape."

"Oh, yeah. I can see that defiantly worked for you." Sango replied sarcastically.

"Why you—!" Miroku stopped his friend just as he was about to lunge at Sango.

"P-please Inuyasha! Let's all be rational!"

The rest of the bus ride continued semi-peacefully as the newly acquainted friends got to know each other better.

* * *

The time was 10:00 a.m. Inuyasha was sleeping soundly yet again but was woken up by a chorus of shrill shrieks. Among the noise he heard the phrase "We're here!" repeated over and over again, giving him the clue that they were, indeed, here.

"Inuyasha! Wake up! Sango says that after we're assigned out cabins then we can go get food in the mess hall!" Miroku was practically bouncing off the walls when Inuyasha opened his eyes.

Inuyasha moaned and lifted his head off the window. He looked at his giddy friend. "What, you didn't have breakfast this morning?"

"Nope. Overslept. Now let's go!" Miroku grabbed Inuyasha's arm and yanked him out of the seat and off the bus. He continued to drag him over to where Sango was standing.

"So, how do we find out our cabin number and whatnot?" Miroku asked Sango.

Sango turned to her side. "The director of the camp, Midoriko, Kagome's grandmother, will—" Sango shrieked when she felt a hand feel down her back. She turned and smacked Miroku hard in the face. "Pervert!" she screamed.

Miroku laughed while holding his stinging cheek. "So, you were saying?"

"The director will read off a cabin number and names." Sango answered in a huff.

About five minutes later, an old woman that was in about her late sixties early seventies stepped up on a giant log with a mike in her hands. This was Kagome's grandmother Midoriko.

"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention." Midoriko tried to say over the loud talking of the campers. "May I have your attention, please." She tried again.

"Ex-ca-yuse me!" a loud and demanding voice shouted. Everyone turned and cheered to see a tall girl standing on the log next to Midoriko. The girl was Kagome. Kagome had black hair that was long and lustful, shimmering in the light. She had pale skin and a slight tan. A cute baby doll top and a denim mini skirt accented her excellent figure. Deep, piercing brown eyes searched to crowd and a small smile played on her pink lips.

Inuyasha's face turned the faintest shade of pink as he took in the girls look. He turned his face toward the ground, focusing on the grass. _'I suppose she's kinda cute. For a commoner, that is.'_

Midoriko laughed. "Well then, why don't you read off the list, Kagome? No one seems to want to listen to me." Midoriko handed Kagome the microphone and a sheet of paper.

"Okay," Kagome said into the mic. "I'm sure that most of you know my name already, but for those of you who don't, I'm Kagome." More cheers erupted from the crowd. "Alright, I'm not that special."

_'At least she's modest…' _Inuyasha thought. _'I wouldn't want to hang around with an egotistical girl.' _

"Okay, let's continue. That kind, old woman who just handed me the mic is Midoriko, my grandmother. Treat her well, ya hear? Moving on, I'll start with the much older campers." She cleared her throat. "First group: Kouga Hayashida, Miroku Ishida, and Inuyasha Arishima. Your cabin number is 18."

Inuyasha started to move towards cabin 18 but Miroku stopped him. "Wait!" he said. "I want to know which cabin Sango is in."

"Oh, so you can spy on me, pervert?" she was shushed by someone in the crowed.

"Second group," Kagome continued, "consists of me, Kagome Higarashi, Ayame Aizawa, and Sango Kirishima. Our cabin is 17 and right next to 18. We will be having the same schedule as the guys in 18 so you guys better be good looking." The crowd laughed.

Sango sighed when she realized she would be having to share the same schedule as Miroku the pervert, and Inuyasha the delinquent. But the thought of sharing her entire summer with her best friend was enough to make any horrible flaw seem completely worthless. She hummed quietly as she walked up to her new home for the next four months with Inuyasha and Miroku following behind.

Inuyasha on the other hand wasn't feeling so giddy. The thought of having to spend the next four months without servants, comfortable beds, edible food and being followed by Kagome's entourage was putting a damper on his mood. Even though he would be with his best friend, he was convinced that the next four months of his life would be something he would be happy to forget. He quietly made his way up to his cabin, the only noise floating on the air was Kagome's voice, booming out names and numbers, and the cheers from the campers who were paired with their friends and the 'awwww's of those who weren't.

But there was something else too. Inuyasha abruptly turned around and scanned the area. He may be human, but he still had his demon instincts, and those instincts told him that something was up. Nothing was there.

_'I'm probably just tired.' _Inuyasha thought to himself. He looked out over at the lake and laughed to himself. _'A summer camp by a lake, huh? I wonder if something bad will happen.' _Another laugh to himself, and he turned around to his cabin.

Little did he know how right he truly was.

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**Dun dun dun! Well, that's the end of chapter one. Let me think up chapter two. Until next time!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	2. Memories

**Hello. It is 11:46 p.m. on a Saturday night. Other than MAP testing, my life is great. So not much to say about this chapter. But the chartcter I put in, Ai, her personality was inspired from a character in a book I read. **

**Oh, and I was kinda thinking of writing a gothic. You know, set in the late 19th century (1895) in London with Queen Victoria? Pride and Predjudice? Sense and Sensability? Manisfeild Park? Emma? By Miss Jane Austen? I don't know. Its just that I don't think there's been a gothic about Kagome and Inuyasha yet, so, yay. First gothic/romance novel. (maybe? idk.) I 've started writting some of it. It's like Kagome is sent to a finishing school in London. Her season is comming close and she is being invited to lots of balls and names keep filling up her dance card. And there's a young master (guess who?) that makes and impression on her. A bad one. But not only does she have to deal with the mean girls at school, but she has to keep the persuers of her hand (in marriage) at bay and her reputation in tact. That sounds boring. Lets throw in some scandal. umm.....I'll think of that later, but there will be some scandal. (Not like that! Gosh, how many times a day do you interact with Miroku?)**

**So enough of my ramblings: Please enjoy chapter 2: Memories**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha&co.**

**Flames are welcome.**

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Chapter 2: Memories

Inuyasha opened the door to cabin 18 and nearly fell over from the rugged look of it. There was a set of bunk beds on either side of the large square room and four large rocks with blankets draped over them were positioned in a semi-circle around a fire place. A fire place he was certain wouldn't be used. To the left of the fire place was a door that led to the bathroom and on the right side was a door that led to closet space. In the middle of the floor were Inuyasha's two suitcases and another suitcase he assumed to belong to this Kouga person.

Miroku had already claimed the bottom bunk on the left wall and was setting up his sleeping area. Other than the two friends, there was no one else in the room.

"So," Inuyasha said, yanking open the suitcase that held his sleeping bag and pillow. "Seen our other cabin member?"

Miroku shook his head. "Not yet. I wonder what he's like."

"Who cares what he's like? As long as he stays out of my way I'll be fine."

The two teens heard the door to their cabin being thrust open and smash against the wall, with a voice following.

"Good morning." The voice said, obviously female.

The two turned their heads to see who had barged in. It was Kagome.

"Good morning!" Miroku responded with a little too much gusto. He took long, graceful strides to the girl and grabbed hold of her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Miroku." Miroku raised her hand to his lips in an attempt to kiss it.

"Charmed." Kagome replied, yanking her hand away before it could make contact.

"So, your grandmother is the head of this camp?" Miroku asked.

"Yes, I—"

"Whatever." Inuyasha said, pushing Miroku aside. "It's not like we care or anything. Now what do you want?"

"Um, not to be rude or anything, Inuyasha, but I actually _do _care." Miroku protested. Inuyasha didn't budge.

"Well?" he prompted.

Kagome smirked. "Well, excuse me, your highness, but I'm supposed to tell you that you can come down to the mess hall to eat, but since you don't care what I have to say, I guess I'll be going now." She smartly turned on the heel of her wedged shoes, her hair smacking Inuyasha in the face. The door closed with a long, eerie creak. Silence passed between the only two people in the room.

"Well that was rather rude." Miroku pointed out.

Inuyasha scoffed. "She's a commoner. What does she care?"

"Oh so because she's poorer than you, means she doesn't have feelings?"

"She didn't seem affected by it." Inuyasha retorted.

Miroku shook his head. "You don't know what she could be hiding in her heart." With those final words, Miroku left the cabin, leaving Inuyasha to hear the creaking of the door again. Only this time, Inuyasha was the only one to hear it.

* * *

"Did he really say that to you?" Sango asked incredulously.

Kagome just stared grimly at her cut up eggs, yolk flowing over her toast and seeping into whatever lied below. The expanding yellow substance reminded Kagome of blood seeping from a wound. The thought triggered a memory that Kagome had successfully been able to suppress flooded back into her mind. With a gasp, she squeezed her eyes shut, and willed the memory to disappear, to shut itself away back in the corner of her mind, never to be roused again. When she opened them, she snatched up her tray and headed to a trash can. She passed the one closest to the table she sat at and kept on going.

When she came upon the next closest trash can, she past that one to. She kept going and going until she came to the trash can that was closest to his table. Kagome was well aware of all the eyes watching her strange behavior, but she didn't care. She just kept her eyes down as she threw her tray into the trash with a satisfying _bang_.

Inuyasha looked up and smirked. "What was that for?" he mocked. "The tray didn't do anything to you."

Kagome turned her piercing eyes on the insufferable teen. "How would you know? You haven't been watching me have you?"

Inuyasha sneered. "No. And I wouldn't have to since I know by common sense that trays don't just randomly attack people. Then again," He looked her over. She flinched slightly from his scrutinizing. "Considering how dumb you look, I don't even know if you _have _common sense."

Kagome's cheeks flushed. She rose up her fist and knocked Inuyasha over the head with it. "Next time you check me out," she threatened, ignoring the jab, "I'll hit you over the head." She turned around and walked away, mumbling something about decency.

"What the hell?!" Inuyasha shouted after her. "You just did! And I was _not _checking you out!" He slumped back into his chair.

Miroku shook his head. "And I thought she wasn't your kind of girl."

"Shut up, Miroku." Inuyasha grumbled. Just then, his pocket started vibrating. Inuyasha flipped out his sidekick to find he had a new text. He rolled his eyes when he saw who it was from.

"Seriously, can't that girl take a hint?" He muttered as he read the text. Suddenly, he was overcome by a huge case of chronic laughter. Miroku stared at him like he was a madman.

"Dude," Miroku nudged Inuyasha. "People are staring."

"So let them stare." Inuyasha said when he finally caught his breath. "It's only natural for commoners to be on the outside looking in on the rich man's world. But check this out," Inuyasha moved the cell phones screen closer to his friend. "Do you see what this girl wrote? She says: 'My love for you has opened and spread its vast wings like a bird about to take flight. It leaps up into the sky soaring higher and higher over endless seas of shimmering blue. Below, water swirls about like the shades of obsidian that slow dance in your eyes; hard yet mysterious. And then dusk slowly falls, gracefully and shimmering like the waves of black silk that spill around you and wrap you in a shimmering shield. And as dusk falls, my love seeps into the seas, changing, morphing, until it is one with the seas. And seeing you causes my love's waves to bubble and expand until it is a tsunami, standing high above the clouds of heaven and it comes plummeting back down to Earth, back down to were you wait, were you stand, determined and strong, much like my love for you.'" He began laughing uncontrollably again.

Miroku, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. His eyes narrowed and his mouth became a thin line. "Inuyasha, you shouldn't mock her so much."

Inuyasha stared at his friend incredulously. "But why? Did you not listen to this crap she sent me?"

Miroku's cobalt eyes flared. "She just confessed her love for you! And she put it in a way that she thought was special! For you! And you turn around and laugh at it!"

Inuyasha's face hardened. "I didn't ask her to love me." Before Miroku could respond, Inuyasha slammed his own tray in the trash can and stormed off toward the exit.

When he came up to Kagome's table, she smirked. "What was that for? The tray didn't do anything to you!" she said as he passed.

"Go shrivel up in a corner and die!" Inuyasha fired back. Gasps filled the room, yet Inuyasha didn't care. He just marched right passed her and through the door until he was well away from the mess hall. There, he leaned against a large tree to calm down and catch his breath. Miroku was only a few paces behind him.

"Are you always going to push people away? What if you encounter the one person who really, truly loves you? And it isn't just some high-school puppy-love crush?"

Inuyasha wheeled around to face Miroku. If he had been a half-demon at that point, his fangs would have barred. "Do you think that that girl would still send me those 'love-sick' poems if she knew who I really was?! Do you think that _anyone _would if they knew who I really was?! They would either shun me, or run away!"

"But if she _really _loves you, she'd just pass it off as some cute little quirk!"

Inuyasha was shaking with rage. "When the hell," he said in a strangely, yet frightening, calm voice, "will you realize that _no one _will _ever _LOVE ME!?" he roared. "Get that through your thick skull and into your tiny brain!"

"When the hell will _you _realize that there is someone out there for _every_one _including _you?!"

Inuyasha folded his arms across his chest. "Oh, so you're an expert on this, huh?"

"What's _that _supposed to mean?"

"Am I to assume that you're hoping that that Sango chick will pass off you wandering hands as a cute little quirk?"

Miroku's eyes darkened. "That's different."

Inuyasha scoffed. "And what do you see in her anyway?"

"She's beautiful and a nice person!"

"She's a _commoner_!"

"That didn't seem to stop you from crushing on Kagome!"

"What the hell?! Crushing on her?! Hell no!"

"Don't try to hide it! I saw your face when she was up there reading off the cabin members! You were blushing!"

"No, I wasn't!" Inuyasha snarled. At that same time a huge flock of birds zoomed out of the trees in the forest. The two teens forgot their argument and turned to face the strange scene.

"I didn't actually think we were yelling that loud." Miroku pondered.

"We weren't." Inuyasha stated matter-of-factly. "Plus the forest is too far away." He looked back at his friend. "Something isn't right. Let's go check it out." And on that note, the two friends dashed off towards the woods and their argument was all but forgotten.

Scene Change

Murder swirled in his azure eyes as the furious black-haired teen stormed out of the mess hall. He began shaking with rage when he saw and emotion in his love's eyes that wasn't normally there; hurt.

"Kouga?" the wolf-demon's friend Hakkaku asked. "Are you okay?"

"Of course I'm not okay!" the wolf demon snarled at his friend. "Not only do I have to share a cabin with that delinquent rich guy Inuyasha but he just insulted my woman!" he slammed his hand down on the table.

"That's right," Ginta pondered, playing with a strip of bacon. "This is the first year we're not all together."

The group of wolf-demons' thoughts were interrupted when Midoriko announced the end of breakfast and the campers filed out of the hall to finish unpacking.

Kouga sprinted away from his friends to catch up with Kagome. "Hey there, Kagome!" he greeted, splitting between the girl and Sango.

"Oh. Kouga, nice to see you again. How was your school year?"

Kouga sighed. "Oh it was tolerable. I would've been more excited to go if we went to the same school." He looked down at Kagome. Hurt was still registered on her face. The wolf-demon growled. "I could kill him for you, you know."

Kagome laughed once. It was a short laugh, lacking enthusiasm. "Although I'm sure you wouldn't mind I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I knew I was the cause of your first casualty."

An idea suddenly formed in Kouga's head. "Hey, Kagome. Do you think you could help me unpack?" To Kagome, it was a simple request for some help. But to Kouga, it was a way to get her alone with him for a while.

Kagome looked nervously at the boys' cabin. "I don't think I really want to see Inuyasha at the moment."

Kouga scoffed. "What's he gonna do? It's not like he can throw you out. It's my cabin too." He placed his arm around Kagome's shoulders. Normally, Kagome would've felt uncomfortable, but considering her crappy mood, she took comfort in the gesture.

Kagome smiled. "Well in that case, okay."

Smirking, Kouga led Kagome all the way to the boys' cabin.

Scene Change

"Do you see anything? Or hear anything or smell anything?" Miroku asked. Inuyasha, who had changed back into his demon form for better luck at finding something, shook his head.

"No. It's like whoever—whatever—it was that scared off those birds just disappeared. It's liked they just up and left."

"Well maybe they—" Miroku was cut off when Inuyasha shushed him curtly.

"Quiet." The half-demon said. "Do you hear that?"

Miroku looked around him. "What? I don't hear anything."

"That's just it." Inuyasha whispered. "There's nothing. Absolutely no sound at all."

"Well, the birds did kinda leave after all." Miroku pointed out.

"Miroku what else lives in a forest?" Inuyasha asked, annoyed. "I'm talking about the animals. Normally there would be a leaf rusting here or a twig snapping there, but there's nothing." Inuyasha sighed and changed back into a human. "Let's just go back to the cabin. I still need to unpack."

When the two friends got back to their cabin, they heard some laughing on the inside.

"Okay, how 'bout this one?" Kouga said when Inuyasha and Miroku opened the cabin door. "So there were two women that were walking their dogs one day when they came across a bar. The first woman says "Why don't we stop for a drink?" and the second woman says "But they don't allow pets inside." Then, the first woman says "its okay, just follow my lead." and she pulls out her sunglasses and puts them on. When she gets inside the bartender says "No pets allowed." and the first woman says "I'm blind and he's my seeing-eye dog." And she's allowed inside. So then the second woman puts her sunglasses on and walks inside. "No pets allowed." The bartender said. "I'm blind and he's my seeing-eye dog." Then the bartender looks at her funny and says "They're using Chihuahuas as seeing-eye dogs?" and the woman says "A Chihuahua? Those bastards gave me a Chihuahua?!"

Kagome threw her head back and shrieked with laughter. "Oh, that's funny!" she said between laughs. "Where do you find these? These are gold!"

"Oh, I just come up with them on my own. One of my many talents." Kouga bragged.

Inuyasha scoffed. "That liar! I've heard that joke before, back when I was, like, twelve!"

Kouga glared at him. "Hmph. So you're the idiot I'll have to hang out with for four months."

Again, Inuyasha's temper got the best of him. "Says a guy who tries to claim he made up a joke! Now _that's _stupid!"

Kouga stands up in front of Inuyasha and puffs up his chest to seem more intimidating. "You do realize I'm a demon, and a lot stronger than you, so you better back off."

"Yeah, and I live with the guy who's the head of the organization that supplies Japan's military equipment, so _you _better back off!"

Kouga raised an eyebrow at his statement. "You live with Sesshomaru?"

Inuyasha smirked. "Yup he's my older," Inuyasha was about to say that Sesshomaru was his older half-brother but quickly remembered his cover-up story. "Sister's husband."

Miroku, realizing his almost slip-up, smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. "Idiot." He muttered under his breath.

"Really?" Kagome asked, awed. She didn't mean to say anything to him, but the thought that she knew someone who was close to Sesshomaru excited her.

Inuyasha turned to face her, is smirk still in tact on his face. "You're surprised? Yeah, you commoners always are." He laughed once. Noticing Miroku, Inuyasha slung his arm over his friends shoulder and dragged him over. "And Miroku's owns the largest business here in Japan."

"Wow. That's pretty interesting." Kagome admitted.

A thought suddenly occurred to Inuyasha and an evil smile replaced his narcissistic smirk. "Hey, Miroku. You know how it's always so funny looking at a commoner's face when we tell them our status?"

Miroku gave him a skeptical look. "What? When did—?" Inuyasha cut him off.

"Well it's funnier with her," he gestured to Kagome, "because she already looks so stupid!"

The next event happened so quickly no one, not even Kouga the demon, realized what happened. Inuyasha's face was turned to the side with Kagome's hand positioned next to it, stiff and red. Kagome had slapped him.

Inuyasha placed a hand on his stinging cheek and slowly turned his head to face the girl. "You," he growled, low and dark. Nobody got away with hitting him, poor or rich, girl or boy.

"Shut up!" Kagome shouted. Inuyasha stared at her, taken aback. "I don't know what I did to you, but I'm sure that whatever I did, I still don't deserve this from you."

"Did it ever occur to you that I just don't like you? Did you ever think once that you're not going to be loved by everyone? People have different opinions of others and my opinion just happens to be that I think you're stupid, and annoying."

Kagome lowered her head and pray that the tears that were threatening to spill over stayed in their place. "You can just go to hell." She said in a whisper, and then pushed Inuyasha out of her way and ran out the door.

Kagome's never sworn in her life. Some people never understood how when she got angry, she was always able to watch what she said. The fact that she just told Inuyasha to go to hell showed that she wasn't angry. Oh, no. She was furious.

When Kagome made it to her cabin, she pushed the door open and that's when the tears began to fall. Out of instinct, Kagome curled up on her bed, and let the tears fall willingly. She wasn't going to pretend that she wasn't crying; she was tired of that.

Kagome wasn't going to lie to herself; she wanted to be his friend. When she was standing there, on the stage reading of names, he was literally the first person she saw in the crowd. There was just something about him that made him stand out. And when she came into his cabin and saw that he was in the brothering group to hers, she was excited because that meant she had the chance to get to know him.

When Midoriko had warned her that he was the delinquent and to be careful around him, Kagome worried a little bit. But she decided that since he was here at a camp instead of Juvenile Hall, he couldn't be all that bad.

Was she ever wrong.

She couldn't stand him. He was cocky, arrogant, narcissistic, got mad easily, sarcastic, basically everything she hated about a guy.

After letting her tears fall, she wiped her eyes with her hand. She ignored the sting she felt. A creaking noise followed by a voice directed her attention to the door.

"Hey, Honey, I hooooome!" Sango sang jokingly as she entered their cabin. Their cabin was just like the boys' but with beanbags instead of rocks covered with blankets. "You wouldn't believe the trouble I went through to—" The sight of Kagome stopped Sango in her tracks.

At the sight of Kagome's red eyes and tear-stained face, Best-Friend mode took control of Sango's body.

"What happened?" she asked as she took a seat next to Kagome on her bed.

"Just that jerk, Inuyasha." Kagome made a face at the thought of him. "I can't believe I have to spend four months with him." She muttered.

"Well, complain all you want," said another voice. "But I think you'll cheer up soon!" Kagome looked up just in time to see Ayame walk through the door, followed by Kikyo.

Kagome grinned instantly. She leapt off her bed to embrace her two friends.

Ayame was a full wolf demon like Kouga. She was a little younger than the rest of the group, but fit in perfectly. Red hair waved down her back and stopped a little bellow her shoulders and clashed beautifully with her emerald eyes. A cheerful smile was stretched across her face which brightened any mood.

Kikyo was a tall girl with a lean figure. Her hair was much longer and straighter than the other girls' and ended at her hips. Bangs covered her forehead and brought attention to her pretty grey eyes. The smile on her face wasn't as toothy or large as Ayame's, but it was happy all the same.

"You're right," Kagome said to Ayame. "I am cheered up." She turned to Kikyo. "So who are you sharing a cabin with?"

"Oh, just some random girls whose names I didn't bother to remember. If they have four beds in here, then why are there only three people per group?"

Kagome shrugged. "I think Grandma said something about it being easier for the counselors to control or something like that."

"Oh, that's right!" Ayame interjected. "Would you mind if I went over to the boys' cabin? I wanna say hi to Kouga and see if the other guy is nicer than that Inuyasha."

"I don't mind." Kagome granted. "And Miroku is _a lot _nicer than Inuyasha." On that note, Ayame hooked her arm around Kikyo's and dragged her to the other cabin.

Kagome watched them go and subconsciously returned to her previous melancholy state. Sango, being the great friend that she is, sensed that change.

"Hey," Sango redirected Kagome's attention from the cabin to herself. "Don't think about him. He's a jerk that thinks he's better than everybody else and I wouldn't be surprised if he accidentally got hit with a train 'cause he doesn't know how to survive out in the wild."

At the thought of Inuyasha wandering aimlessly through the streets of Tokyo, not having a clue where he was going or how to get home, and then getting spontaneously hit by a train, made Kagome laugh. "I'd bet he'd do just that too." And the girls continued coming up with scenarios that Inuyasha would get stuck in as the unpacked their suitcases.

Scene Change

Ayame knocked once and then barged into the boys' cabins with Kikyo in tow.

"Ayame, slow down!" Kikyo screeched in fear of tripping.

Ayame released her hold on Kikyo as her attention found her childhood friend. "Kouga!' she greeted.

Kouga braced himself as Ayame kamakazed herself into him. "Ayame, you're acting like we haven't been going to the same school for nine months." Kouga remarked, breaking out of her hold.

Ayame then turned around and stuck out her hand to Miroku. "Hi! You're Miroku, the nice one, right?"

"Huh? Well, I guess so." Miroku laughed nervously as he took hold of Ayame's hand.  
Kikyo sidestepped Ayame to embrace Kouga. After about three seconds she let go and turned to Miroku. "Hello. I'm Kikyo. Ayame and I are Kagome's friends."

At the mention of the girl, Inuyasha hoisted himself onto the top bunk, above Miroku's. He fished around in one of his suitcases for his iPod, placed his headphones in his ears, and turned the music up way loud.

"Well, Kagome certainly has a great taste in friends." Miroku said to Kikyo's chest.

This movement did not go undetected, and Kikyo instinctively crossed her arms across her chest. "And apparently Inuyasha has a bad taste in his. Though, that statement could go for you too." Miroku flinched at the comment, but let it slide. Inuyasha just plain didn't hear.

"So," Ayame started turning to Kouga. "You'll be my partner, right?" This, Inuyasha heard.

Inuyasha ripped his headphones out of his ears. "What?! Repeat!" he commanded Ayame.

"Um, I was asking Kouga if he wanted to be my partner." Ayame said hesitantly.

Inuyasha arched an eyebrow. "We're having _partners_? Seriously?" _'I don't really _want _partners, but I guess I could put up with it if Miroku's my partner.'_

Ayame chewed on her thumbnail, something she did whenever she was nervous, and stole a quick glance at Kikyo. They both knew that what they had to say next was going to anger the teen, but if Kikyo was nervous she did a great job of hiding it.

"Seriously," Kikyo said, taking a half step toward Inuyasha, her gaze holding his. "But they're with the other cabin."

"What?! The _other _cabin?! God _damn _it!" he roared. He sent a murderous glare in Miroku's direction. "If I have to end up with that girl…." He left the threat hanging as he leaped off the bed, shoved the cabin door open, and took off in a sprint toward the lake. Silence hung in the air where the four other teens stood, shocked into silence.

Scene Change

Inuyasha kicked the sand with his shoe as he walked along the shore line. It was a little after one and was brutally hot. Inwardly, Inuyasha kicked himself for wearing pants. When he got close to the dock, Inuyasha leaped up onto the wooden platform and followed the path until he was at the end. He sat down, kicked off his shoes and dipped his feet in the water, not caring if his pants got wet.

Inuyasha sighed as he thought about having to spend the entire summer looking after Kagome. He knew that if the boys got to pick first, Kouga would choose Ayame since they seemed to be good friends, and Miroku would choose Sango. Choosing Sango or Ayame as a partner would defiantly be out because he didn't like Ayame and Miroku really liked Sango. Even thought Inuyasha objected he still couldn't do that to his friend. So the boys picking first would only end bad. He moved on.

If the girls picked first, Ayame's pretty much made it clear that Kouga was off limits. When it came to whom Sango and Kagome would choose, it was easy. They would choose Miroku. Kagome hated Inuyasha just as much as Inuyasha hated Kagome. And Sango, assuming that Kagome spent some time ranting about him, would quickly look over Inuyasha and settle with Miroku, despite his hands. His only hope was that Kagome would be able to pick before Sango, and that she chose Miroku. Like she would choose anyone else.

Scene Change

Yards away from where Inuyasha sat, brooding about partners, the girls were happily chatting away in the confines of their cabin.

"Okay, if we're able to choose our partners, you have to let me get Kouga." Ayame pleaded.

"'Kay." Sango said without looking up from the book she was reading.

"I really don't care who I end up with, as long as it's not Inuyasha." Kagome grumbled. "That would mean I'd be with Miroku." She said after a while.

This, Sango looked up from her magazine for. "Be careful. He's a pervert." Kagome shot her a questioning look. Sango huffed at the memory. "Before you read off the cabin members, he groped me."

Shock registered on Kagome and Ayame's faces.

"And here I thought he was the nice one." Kagome muttered.

Ayame fell back on her bed, laughing. "Well, it looks like I'm the only one with a good partner!"

"Speaking of which," Sango crossed the room over to where Ayame was sitting. "How are things with him?"

Ayame sighed. "Oh, as dense as usual. He still hasn't realized his unconditional love for me." She said, blissfully.

Ever since Ayame and Kouga were kids, Ayame has had a huge crush on him. She always spent more time with him than her other friends and because of that, she's lost a lot of friends that way.

It was in their third year of junior high that Kagome transferred to Ayame and Kouga's school. After Kouga's first look at Kagome, he decided that he loved her and proclaimed her his woman. And because of that, Ayame swore that Kagome would be her enemy. And then…Well a lot of things happened but Ayame finally saw what kind of person Kagome was and they've been friends ever since.

Suddenly there was a knock on their door followed by it slamming against the wall. In stalked a woman in her early 20's, chewing gum and clutching a clipboard to her busty chest.

"Hello, my sisters!" the woman sang.

"Hi, Ai." Kagome replied, smiling at the woman.

Kagome's always loved Ai's funky look. Ai dyes her hair magenta and is always wearing long skirts and tunics with bracelets and anklets made of bells and a band around her head. The most interesting fact about Ai was her reluctance to wear shoes. But what Kagome like most about Ai was her spiritual attitude. She always spoke in third person and believed in communing with the Earth, spirits, and gods.

"So Ai," Ayame said, crossing over to their consular. "Any news about partners?"

"Mmmmm, Ai's got it all worked out." Ai said in a smooth, relaxed voice. "Ai went up to the boys' consular and won the right of way fair and square. The ladies pick."

Ayame's hand shot up in the air. "Let me pick first!"

Ai raised her arm in Ayame's general direction, granting permission. Kagome smiled at the small sound the bells gave off.

"I pick Kouga!"

"Surprise, surprise." Sango whispered to Kagome. Kagome giggled.

"Who's next?" Ai said to the two remaining girls.

Sango and Kagome looked at each other. They both knew what would happen to the person who chose last….

"I DO!" they both shouted at the same time. Then they began talking over each other, both trying to get Ai's attention.

"Hold it, hold it, hold it." Ai calmly raised up her hands, signaling them to stop. "The gods are telling me who should pick next." She closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked at Sango. "They tell me it's you." Sango's shoulders slacked in relief. Kagome whipped her head at her friend. "Sango," she warned. "Don't do this."

Sango sent her friend an apologetic look. "Sorry. You know, every woman for herself out here, right?" she turned to look at Ai. "I choose Miroku."

Kagome let out an exasperated growl and flopped down on her bed. She sprawled out and turned over so she was lying on her stomach.

Sango approached her friend. She smiled weakly, though Kagome couldn't see it. "S-sorry! But I'm sure you can handle it!"

"We are no longer friends!" Kagome's voice was muffled a little by her pillow.

Sango laughed nervously. She looked down at her friend. "Isn't it a little hard to breath?"

Slowly Kagome sat up. "Yeah." Kagome stayed quiet for a while. Then…

"Argh! Why do I have to be with _him_, that _jerk_!" Kagome slammed her fist in the pillow.

"Who knows why the universe does anything." Ai said in the same relaxed tone. "But don't worry sister. There's a reason the gods paired you with him. Trust me. It's a sign."

"Ai, do you wanna get smacked?" Kagome threatened.

"S-so, Ai! How's college?" Sango jumped in, hoping to avoid a fight.

"Very spiritual. Learning about medicinal herbs and helping the sick an injured can be very rewarding. Last Friday Ai ran into……."

* * *

Scene Change

Inuyasha tossed and turned in his sleeping bag. It's been at least two hours since he went to bed and he couldn't fall asleep. Eventually he shed his sleeping bag and dropped down to the floor, landing with a _thump_. Making sure that both Kouga and Miroku were asleep, he snuck out the door.

"Dammit." Inuyasha muttered, crossing his arms over his bare chest. "Note to self: Never venture outside wearing nothing but flannel pants." He continued walking down to the docks.

After all the drama at this camp, fighting with Miroku, getting slapped by Kagome, and finding out that he'd have to spent the whole summer with her, the only place that really calmed him down was sitting at the docks.

Something caught his eye. _'What's that?' _he asked himself. As he got closer he realized that a person was sitting at the docks. After a minute, he realized who it was.

The full moon's light reflecting off the surface cast a glow on the mysterious person. And in the glow of the moon, he found himself thinking about how the person looked.

_'Her eyes are a really deep shade of brown. And in the moonlight they look like they're almost……sparkling.' _He cursed himself mentally. _'Dammit, Inuyasha, what are you thinking?! She's a commoner!' _Still, he continued to move towards her.

"Hey," he said. Startled, Kagome turned around. Her eyes darkened at the sight of him and she returned her attention back to the lake. Inuyasha continued.

"What are you doing out here?" He tried to make it sound harsh, but he found he really did want to know.

"I could ask you the same thing." She replied.

Inuyasha grunted. "Well, if you must know, I couldn't sleep."

"Really? Huh. Small world." She looked back at him."I couldn't sleep either."

Inuyasha noted the puffiness of her eyes. She'd been crying. "What happened?" in inquired. "Why were you crying?"

"Why do you care?" she snapped.

"I-I don't!" he retorted. "It's just that your eyes were puffy and I just happened to want to know why. Is it a sin to be so curious?" He'd meant it as a rhetorical question, but she answered it anyways.

"It depends on what you're so curious about." She whispered.

A pause followed shortly after. Kagome sighed. "I had a nightmare. It brought back old memories, alright? Memories I thought I forgot. That's why I couldn't sleep." She turned and looked at him again. "What about you?"

Inuyasha was taken aback. After the way he treated her he didn't expect her to confide in him, even if it wasn't much. And now she's asking him a question even though she should be ignoring him. He didn't want this. Without thinking, he just snapped what came to mind. "I don't have to explain my self to you!"

Kagome sighed and stood up. She walked toward him. Inuyasha braced himself for an insult, or a scream, or anything. And yet she continues to surprise him.

"Look; I'm tired and I'd rather not wake up the camp. Can we just save the fighting for tomorrow?" Without waiting for an answer, Kagome stepped around Inuyasha and headed toward her cabin.

As she walked away, Inuyasha noticed that she was wearing a silk tank top and shorts. Inuyasha also noticed that it was the first time he realized what she was wearing. He'd been looking at only her face.

As Kagome walked away, she couldn't help but notice that he wasn't wearing any shirt. And she also couldn't help but notice how strikingly attractive his chest was. A blush crept up to her face. She shook her head but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake thoughts of Inuyasha out of her head.

Unknown to Kagome, Inuyasha also couldn't shake thoughts of her out of his mind.

And unknown to both of them, there were a pair of eyes, watching them both.

* * *

**Um, can you say stalker? Well all your questions will be answered soon enough.....That is, I hope.**

**Take care!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	3. Secrets, Secrets

**Hello! Chapter 3 is now officialy up! **

**To start off, I'm very thrilled with the reviews I have recieved with my second chapter. I didn't think that this story would be very popular. If it wasn't for your guys' support, this story would probably be discontinued. Moonfrost-InuKag-7768, your review was the longest and most inspiring. Thank you! It's so nice to know that my story is so popular. Thanks to all of you who support this!**

**Second, I do want you to know that this story is always going to be second, next to my other one, One Day, One Night. So if you haven't read it yet, please do and review! Is that being selfish? If it is, I'm sorry.**

**Third, if you are a Twilight fan and a Fruits Basket fan, then please consider reading my friend norainubuchai's parody Twibasket. It's a little random....but randomness is good. It's just a story that her, me, and some other friends came up with at lunch one day. And our friend (who is currently not a member of fanfic, so don't look her up) Yuki-chan is our test subject for some ideas. Blush, Yuki-chan, blush! **

**Fourth, if you are also a fan of Naruto and O.C.s (original characters) then please consider reading The Black Rose, agian written by norainubuchai. It is very well written and emotional. The first two chapters are a bit depressing, but Buchai promises it will have some happiness in it. Also, you should look into joining her community Naru-tards Like O.c.s! I'm a staff member!**

**Oh yeah, I just found out that summers in Japan aren't 4 months long. Not even close. *sigh* I'm sorry. I have absolutly nothing to cover that up with. That's my own fault. And in chapter two when Kouga says something about being in school for 9 months, it was actually supposed to be 8. Boy this is way off from a real japanese summer! Sorry! **

**So, all in all, please enjoy Love Under a Bloodred Sky, Chapter 3: Secrets, Secrets**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. **

**norainubuchai, you had better start advertising _my _fanfics since I'm advertising _yours_! **

**Flames are Welcome.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Secrets, Secrets

"Do we really have to do this stupid canoeing? Can't we do something more fun? It's really boring canoeing down this stupid river! And why'd we have to go down this one? Couldn't we have followed Miroku? Then I'd at least have someone I _like _to talk to."

Kagome sighed and put down her oar. She turned to face Inuyasha who was sitting in the back. "You want me to start at the beginning? Fine: Yes we do. This _is_ fun. This river isn't stupid. Yes, we do have to go down this one. No, we couldn't have followed Miroku. And I didn't know you felt that way about him."

Inuyasha's face flared at her last comment! "Not like that! He's just my friend!"

"One more comment out of you, and you're going over board." Kagome growled and turned back around.

At this time, the groups were canoeing down rivers that came off of the lake. Ayame and Kouga, and Sango and Miroku took one of the two rivers while Kagome and Inuyasha took the other.

Inuyasha huffed. "I still don't see why we had to go down the other river."

Kagome shrugged. "It's my favorite. Don't you think the scenery is beautiful?"

Inuyasha's eyes widened. _'Oh my God, it's happening already!' _He was annoyed by Kagome but decided to make it into a joke. He smirked. "Oh really? 'Cause if I didn't know any better, I'd say you just wanted to get me alone."

In reaction, Kagome swung her oar around and whacked Inuyasha in the head, sending him overboard. He landed in the water with a satisfying _splash_! It was Kagome's turn to smirk.

"Have fun swimming back to camp!" she called. Inuyasha sputtered in response, trying to keep above the water.

* * *

After 15 nice, relaxing, Inuyasha-free minutes of cruising along the beautiful river, it eventually emptied out into a small lagoon where the other groups where waiting. Kagome paddled to the shore and docked her canoe. She got out and joined her friends in the shade.

"Hey Kagome!" Sango greeted. The teen looked around. "Where's Inuyasha?"

Kagome shrugged. "I don't know. He was being really annoying so I knocked him overboard."

Sango gaped, Ayame snickered, Miroku widened his eyes in shock, and Kouga burst out laughing.

"Serves him right!" Kouga managed out between laughs. "That idiot!"

"What's all this talk about Inuyasha being knocked overboard?" Ai strides up to the group, skirt flowing, bells jingling. "Tell Ai."

"Well, Inuyasha annoyed me so I warned him that I'd knock him overboard if he didn't shut up. He continued to talk and I went through with my threat. He had it coming."

Mitsuya, the boys' counselor, came up behind Ai. He ran a hand through his deep black hair. "You really shouldn't do that, Kagome." Mitsuya's a young man and very tall and skinny. He's timid and a sort of coward and apologizes a lot when he doesn't need too, but he's very sweet.

"Ka-go-me!" said a very low, and very, very scary, voice. The group turned to see Inuyasha emerging from the forest, soaked and thirsty for revenge. Inuyasha walked right up to the guilty girl.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" he snarled.

"Please, Inuyasha," Mitsuya pleaded. "L-let's not swear!" Though Mitsuya was right next to the feuding teens, he was not heard.

"I gave you fair warning!" Kagome pointed out. "You chose not to listen!"

"Oh, so you think that just because your grandmother runs this stupid camp means that you can just do what ever you want?"

"I told you, you had fair warning, and no I don't think that, though it does come in handy."

Before the argument could progress, Ai clamped a long-nailed hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "1:00," she said. "Time for lunch." She turned around and took the lead with Mitsuya.

Kagome and Sango followed with Ayame and Kouga a few steps behind. Miroku lagged back with Inuyasha.

"Damn, that woman scares me!" Inuyasha whispered. If there was one thing he learned about Ai, it was that she had ears like a hawk. Inuyasha squeezed the excess water out of his hair.

"Who, Ai?" asked Miroku.

Inuyasha nodded. "Yeah, Ai! The way she dyes her hair that color and keeps on 'speaking' with the gods, asking for signs and all that crap!"

Miroku shrugged. "I don't know I kinda like her."

Inuyasha slugged Miroku in the shoulder. "You just like her c-cups!"

"Ai didn't know you were so interested in her bra size!" Ai called to the boys from the head of the group. The group snickered and Inuyasha's face flushed while Miroku had a glint in his eye.

Inuyasha punched Miroku in the shoulder again.

"Ouch!" he snapped. "Stop that!"

"I'll stop hitting you when you stop being a pervert." Inuyasha reasoned. He hit him again.

"I didn't even say anything!" Miroku shouted in protest.

"Hard to tell with you. I can't read minds." Inuyasha said, and picked up his pace when they fell too far behind.

* * *

"Ayame, slow down! You'll choke, inhaling that food!" Sango said with a laugh.

Ayame looked up at her friend. "I can't help it; I over slept and missed breakfast."

Kagome looked at her and snickered. "Even after I tried to wake you five times? You responded each time."

Ayame scrunched up her eyebrows. "Really? I don't remember that." The three girls cracked up.

Inuyasha leaned toward Miroku. "Why did we have to sit here again?"

"They're our friends, why wouldn't we?" Miroku whispered back.

Inuyasha scoffed. "Correction; they're _your _friends, not my friends." He returned to pushing his food around on his plate with his fork. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain strike his shin. Glaring eyes shot at the girl sitting in across from him. Kagome was just sitting, innocently eating her pizza. "What was that for?!" he snapped.

Kagome looked up from her plate. "Your gloomy attitude is chasing the happiness away."

Inuyasha snorted. "What happiness? I'll be happy at 7:00 when we get our free time—away from _you_." Kagome answered with another sharp kick to his shin. "Ow." He muttered. As if nothing happened, Kagome got up and refilled her glass with water.

Midoriko burst through the door, looking very frantic. She stepped up to the podium, usually reserved for making announcements during breakfast. "May I have your attention, please?" her voice boomed through the mike. The Hall continued to talk. "Please, this is very important." The urgency in her voice quieted everyone down. "I need all the counselors to meet with me in the meeting room." Her eyes caught Kagome's. "Kagome, you come too." On that note, she turned around and out through the door.

"Wonder what's up." Kagome got up and followed the counselors through the door.

* * *

After six, long, grueling hours, 7:00 rolled around. Inuyasha collapsed on his bed. Ever since Midoriko called all the counselors and Kagome into the meeting room, he'd been filled with anxiety. He was probably jumping to conclusions, but every time he tried to guess what it was that happened, his mind always returned to the odd feeling he got on his first day here. Kagome had promised to tell him at 7:00 when they could all be alone, but having to spend every minute with her after that wasn't helping much. And her vexed attitude toward it all was causing Inuyasha to suspect the worst. It also led to a huge fight.

Inuyasha shook his head as he recalled the event.

Flashback

Inuyasha had long given up on trying to catch a fish, so he decided to try and poke them with the pole. When that attempt failed, he just plopped down on the sand and watched the others fish. Ayame and Kouga were reeling in fish left and right, partially due to their demon instincts telling them where all the large clusters were. Miroku was gingerly picking a hook out of his skin where Sango had whacked him with the pole when he got too 'familiar' with her body, while Sango was trying to figure out how to attach another hook onto her reel. He got bored and directed his attention to Kagome.

Kagome was standing silently on the dock, holding her fishing rod. Her eyes were dead, and she hadn't even realized she had a catch. She was just staring out at the horizon.

Inuyasha looked away. He wasn't worried. _'Eventually, either Sango or Ayame will notice her melancholy state, and with one wave of their Best-Friend-Wand, everything will be back to normal.'_ He told himself.

5 minutes…..

10 minutes…..

15 minutes…..

_'God dammit!' _Inuyasha shouted in his mind. _'They're too preoccupied with those damn idiots to notice her!'_ Inuyasha groaned inwardly as he stood up, and headed toward Kagome. A bunch of sirens went off in his head, telling him to stop. He knew that once he tried to pry out what she was hiding, she'd snap shut and scream at him. But his left foot followed his right foot, and before he knew it, he was walking down the wooden pathway.

"Hey," he said. Kagome's shoulder hitched up, and turned around startled. "You know you got a bite."

"Oh!" she gasped, and reeled in the fish. She held up her catch and inspected it. "How long was it there?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "How should I know? It's not like I keep tabs on you."

Kagome huffed and turned away. "Well, excuse me."

Inuyasha mentally kicked himself. He didn't want a fight, and the way things were starting out, there's a pretty slim chance he won't get away without his ear chewed out.

"Hey," he said again. Kagome didn't budge. "What's wrong with you?"

Kagome turned around, eyebrows scrunched together. "What do you mean?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I mean how you're just standing there, looking half-dead."

Kagome huffed again. "And I thought you didn't keep tabs on me." She set down her rod and sat on the docks.

Inuyasha's faced flushed. "I don't! Usually you're running around, screaming in that stupid voice of yours!"

"If my voice is so stupid, then why are you talking to me?" she snapped at him.

"'Cause you're acting really stupid now and it's getting on my nerves!"

"Oh, just shut up!" she grumbled.

Inuyasha stepped closer to her, his feet hit the ground in loud steps. He bent over her. "What happened in there?" he asked.

Kagome looked up at him. He was blocking the sun, and the light outlining his figure accented his dark hair, and brought out his eyes. A faint blush hit Kagome's face and she looked away.

"Are you going to answer?" he growled.

Kagome looked up again. "No." she answered simply.

"Why not?"

"'Cause Grandma told me not too."

"Well, whatever the hell she said has made you like this. So just get the hell off your high horse and just tell me!"

"No."

Inuyasha threw his hands in the air and ran them threw his hair. "Why are you so damn stubborn?!"

"'Cause my father was." Kagome whispered.

Inuyasha looked at her. "'Was'? What do you mean 'was'?"

"What do you think?" Kagome snapped. Soon she was on her feet and tears were threatening to spill over. "Look, if I tell you what happened, will it shut you up?"

"Yes." Inuyasha answered, a little relieved to be getting somewhere.

"Fine. At 7, during free-hour." She turned around.

Inuyasha caught her arm and spun her around. "No, you'll tell me now. That way, I won't have to spend the next four and a half hours with you like this."

Kagome wrenched her arm free. "I said 7! That way the others won't over hear!"

"God _dammit _you're stubborn! I'm sick of it!"

That was when Kagome snapped. "Well if you have a problem with it, why don't you go complain to my parents! Although that might be kinda hard considering they're both dead!" she shouted. By that time, Sango, Miroku, Kouga, Ayame, Ai and Mitsuya had stopped what they were doing to watch the scene unfold. A single tear had escaped from Kagome's eyes and she swiped at it.

"You probably have no idea how I feel right now! Your life's been perfect! Nothing bad has ever happened in your pampered life! You have _everything_! A huge house, expensive clothes and electronics, fancy cars and elaborate schools! You think nothing of us who are less fortunate than you are, and you couldn't care less about those of us whose lives are even worse! And that is why I just can't stand you!" At the end of her outburst, Kagome's tears were flowing freely and she not only caught the attention of her fellow cabin mates and their partners, but she caught the attention of half the camp. All eyes were on Inuyasha and Kagome. Kagome shoved Inuyasha out of the way and sprinted up to her cabin.

End Flashback

Inuyasha shook his head again. After that argument, there was no way Kagome would ever even speak to him. He exhaled slowly. After everything that had happened, he was exausted.

_'I wonder if it would be alright if I just went to sleep now…?' _he thought.

A light tapping noise sounded on the door, followed by the low creak. Silently, Kagome slipped in the cabin and shut the door behind her. She turned around and looked up at Inuyasha from the floor.

Inuyasha leaped over the side and hit the floor with a _thud_. "I thought you weren't going to come after…you know."

"I told you that I would. I always keep my promises." Kagome looked down. "It's how I was raised." Silence passed between them.

Finally Kagome looked up. "So I guess I should tell, huh?" Inuyasha nodded and they took a seat on the rocks by the fire place. Kagome shifted uncomfortably on hers. Inuyasha did the same.

"Why do they even have these?" Inuyasha grumbled.

"I don't know, 'cause you're guys? Stupid idea if you ask me." Kagome replied. Soon they both gave up on sitting on the rocks and retired to the floor, their backs against the rocks.

"Hmph. Maybe I oughta push Kouga and hope he'd fall onto the rocks. Then they'd take them away 'cause they're so hazardous." Inuyasha mused. Kagome laughed.

"Well you can push him; just make sure he falls _next _to the rocks….Unless you want us to get sued." Kagome joked.

"Kill joy."

Kagome laughed again. That's when it hit them.

_'Omigosh! Am I _actually_ having a real conversation with him?!' _Kagome shrieked in her head.

_'Holy shit! I'm talking to her and she isn't yelling! And neither am I!'_

Kagome broke the silence. "So, about what happened." She altered her position slightly so she was angled toward him. "I'm sure you've heard of the recent serial killer in Tokyo, right?"

"He's killed several people. _Everybody's _heard of him." Inuyasha answered.

Kagome nodded. "Right, well, Grandma heard on the news this morning that he attacked in an area that's…..close to the …camp" She whispered the last part so low it was barely inaudible.

Inuyasha absorbed this information. _'So the camp's in danger of being hit.' _he thought.

Kagome continued. "Grandma's contacted the police and they said that the attack was only a week ago and not to worry unless he came closer. She's already contacted the camper's parents and informed them about the situation. Some parents are letting their kids stay while some are withdrawing theirs from the camp."

Inuyasha nodded. "But that doesn't explain why you acted the way you did."

Kagome's face hardened and her eyes darkened. "When I was younger, my parents were murdered. Right. In front. Of me." She growled. "I wish I could've seen what the murderer looked like."

Another wave of silence passed between the two. Inuyasha was the one who broke the silence.

"I'm sorry." he said.

Kagome waited for him to burst into laughter, or follow up with a joke that made her furious, but there was nothing. Kagome searched his face for any signs of mockery—a mouth twitch or even a twinkle in his eye. There wasn't anything. Inuyasha was 100% sincere.

Kagome shrugged. "It's okay, you don't have to apologize."

Inuyasha leaned back against the rock and looked up at the ceiling. His eyes were filled with confusion, as if he was debating whether he was going to tell her something and how much of the story to tell. Finally he sighed and looked back at Kagome. "You know my parents….died too."

Kagome's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked as if she couldn't believe it.

"Yeah. My father got into a fight the night of my birth with a gang leader and they both died when that cowardly gang set fire to the building they were in. My mother died when I was still a kid from sickness." Inuyasha clenched his fists. "And since then I've had to live with my bastard of a brother, who _hates _me."

"You've lived with Sesshomaru that long?" Kagome asked.

Fear welled up inside Inuyasha when he realized the mistake of his choice of words. _'Dammit! I let it slip! Stupidstupidstupidstupidstupidstupid! Gotta cover it up! But how? Rin never said anything about if I told anyone about how my parents died! DAMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!'_

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked. "Are you okay?"

Inuyasha jumped to his feet. "No!" he said a little too quickly. "N-not really! I just…don't like talking about my past much."

Kagome stood up next to him. "I guess we all have dark memories and secrets." she said quietly.

"Yeah." Inuyasha agreed, knowing all too well about secrets.

"I'm sorry."

Inuyasha shook his head. "Don't be."

"No, I'm sorry for what I said earlier, about you life being perfect and nothing bad ever happening. Of course bad things have happened."

Another wave of silence passed between the two. They both stood there, thinking about different things with similar meanings.

Scene Change

"So, you don't know where she is either?" Sango asked.

Kikyo shook her head. "I haven't seen her since dinner."

Sango sighed and ran a hand threw her hair. She sat down on Kikyo's bed. "I'm just worried about her. What do you think Midoriko said to her and the counselors? Even Ai is acting weird."

Kikyo shrugged and sat next to her friend. "I don't know. I wish I could help you find her, but my strict counselor has ordered me to stay with my partner or stay here, and since my partner is the definition of 'creep'…"

Sango smiled. Kikyo's attempt at being funny was very poor, but it made her smile anyway. She stood up. "I'm gonna find Miroku or Kouga. Maybe they know where she went."

Sango found Miroku sitting on a lone rock near the lake, playing with something in his hands. She approached him from the side. "What'cha working on?" she asked.

Miroku's shoulders hitched up and he whirled around, hiding what he was working on. He exhaled at the sight of Sango. "Well, don't you have soft shoes." he commented.

"Sorry," Sango said. "So, before I scared you—"

"You didn't scare me!" Miroku interrupted. "I was simply startled, that's all."

"Okay, so before I _startled _you, what were you doing? You seemed really into it."

Slowly, Miroku revealed a wooden carving of a fox. "It's a hobby of mine; wood carving." He gave a weak smile. "You wanna see it?" he asked, handing it to her.

Sango took the carving from him and brought it closer to her and inspected it. She was at a loss for words. The carving was so intricate and well sculpted. You could see every hair on it. Gently, she ran her fingers along the fox's body. Not one splinter. "It's beautiful." she whispered. "How did you learn to do this?"

Miroku shrugged. "Self-taught, mostly. I didn't grow up in a neighborhood with many kids my age and I was home schooled. I gotta have something to keep me busy."

Sango turned the carving over in her hand. "That's pretty impressive. I certainly couldn't do something like this."

"It's nothing, really. Just a selfish little hobby."

Sango smacked him on the shoulder. "It's not selfish! You've got talent here. Not many people can do this." She looked back at the fox in her hands. "It really is beautiful"

Miroku held out his hand and Sango returned the carving. "Thank you." he said, and returned his attention to his carving.

Then the real reason for coming out here returned to Sango. "Hey, have you seen Kagome? After dinner let out, she just kinda disappeared."

Miroku looked back up at her. "No I haven't." he paused, thinking for a minute. "Now that you mention it, I haven't seen Inuyasha around either."

"D'you think that's a bad thing?" Sango asked.

Miroku didn't respond. He just got up and headed to the boys' cabin, the last place he saw Inuyasha, with Sango following.

By the time Sango and Miroku made it to the boys' cabin, Kagome had just slipped out the door. She jumped at the sight of her friends.

"S-Sango! Miroku! You scared me!"

"Kagome," Sango stepped closer to her friend. "What were you doing in there?"

"Is Inuyasha in there too?" Miroku asked.

As if on cue, Inuyasha opened the door. He stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wide.

"I don't recall any yelling going on in there…" Miroku pondered. "What were you doing?" he asked, suspicion in his voice.

Inuyasha whacked him over the head. "You stupid pervert! Like I would do anything with _her_!" One more hit over the head, and Inuyasha stormed off, fuming.

Miroku rubbed his head and followed after him. Sango turned her attention back towards Kagome. Kagome looked away.

Sango smirked. "Girl, you have got some explaining to do!"

Kagome just huffed and turned away to head back to her cabin with Sango behind her.

Scene Change

"Looks like neither Ai nor Ayame are back," Sango checked her cell phone for the time. "And curfew's coming up soon, so if you want fewer witnesses you better start explaining."

Kagome collapsed in a beanbag. "Nothing happened. He just asked me to tell him what Grandma had said to me and everyone else and I went to his cabin to tell him. End of story. Can I go now?"

Kagome got up to leave, but Sango pushed her back down. "Why would you tell him and not Ayame or me?"

"He kinda forced me too. That's what our argument from earlier today was about."

Sango raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I'll tell you two tomorrow, if Ai doesn't."

Sango sat down next to Kagome. "So why didn't I hear any fighting."

"That's because there wasn't any fighting."

Sango stared at her incredulously. "Sorry? Did you just say there wasn't any fighting?" She clapped her hands together. "A heard of pigs is taking off in flight right now!"

Kagome glared at her.

"Sorry, sorry! Okay, so what else did you talk about?"

Kagome looked up at the ceiling as if trying to recall a memory. "Well, we started off complaining about those stone seats in the boys' cabin. He said he wanted to push Kouga into them in hopes that he'll get hurt and the camp will have to take them away. We…kinda shared a laugh there." She stopped and looked at Sango. Sango signaled her to continue.

Kagome looked down, suddenly interested in the sheepskin rug that covered the floor of their cabin. "Somehow we got on the subject of how my parents died." She whispered. Sango immediately started rubbing Kagome's back. Kagome's past was a touchy subject and it almost always led to tears. But somehow she managed to hold them back.

Kagome continued. "Then, he told me that his parents died and how he came to live with Sesshomaru. He was acting kinda strange when I asked him about how long he lived with Sesshomaru….Guess he just doesn't like talking about his past."

Sango looked at Kagome with a look that Kagome couldn't quite place. Then she opened her mouth to speak. "Do you like him?"

The way she said it so bluntly almost made Kagome fall over. "WHAT?! Do I _like _him?!" Sango nodded. "Like him, like him or just plain like him?" Kagome stalled.

Sango tilted her head to the side in the disappointed way. "You know."

"No, I do not like him, like him. Why would you think that?"

"You've known him for only about a week and you're talking about your past."

Kagome clenched her teeth together. "He's a jerk, and I don't like him!"

Sango was about to say something else when the door creaked open and Ai and Ayame stepped in.

"Lights out in five, girls." Ai informed. "Early day tomorrow." She then turned to leave.

Neither Sango nor Kagome noticed. They continued their conversation.

"I think you do!" Sango accused. "There's no way you'd share something so secretive in only a week!"

"No I don't!" Kagome shouted. "It just sorta happened."

"Nothing just 'sorta happens', Kagome!"

Kagome jumped to her feet. "I'm not talking about this anymore. Good night!" She turned around and headed toward the closet space to get her pajamas.

Ayame looked at Sango. "Okay, there was like, a novel between those lines just now. What's up?"

Sango placed a hand on Ayame's shoulder. "Not my story to tell. Sorry." She then followed Kagome to the closet space, leaving Ayame in the dark.

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, Ayame's breathing finally evened out. To be safe, Sango stayed in her bed a little longer. When she was sure she was safe, the young teen crept out from under her covers. Quickly, she jumped from one sheepskin rug to the next to avoid waking Kagome up. Because if she woke up, the entire point of this mission would be blown.

Finally, she reached the door. Sango gripped the knob and turned. The door instantly began creaking. She held her breath, listening for any sign of her friend waking up. At the count of five, Sango exhaled and quickly slipped outside. Now came the real hard part. She didn't know any of the boys' sleep patterns.

Sango approached the door to the boys' cabin. Her hand wrapped around the knob and she pushed to door open. An audible creak sounded. She bit her lip. No one moved. Exhaling, Sango took a step inside the cabin.

Making her way through the boys' cabin would be harder, considering the fact that there were no rugs that would mask her steps. Sango took a deep breath and made her way to where Inuyasha slept. She stood on the rim of the bottom bunk and poked her head over the railing of Inuyasha's top bunk. Slowly she raised her hand over the sleeping teen's mouth. Taking another deep breath, she thrust her hand toward his face and covered his mouth. Inuyasha's eyes snapped open suddenly, revealing two golden eyes. The golden color reverted back to violet-black as instantly as they had appeared. Inuyasha shot up in his bead.

"Dammit!" he whisper shouted. "Did Kagome send you to kill me?! The hell do you want?"

"Follow me outside and I'll tell you." Sango's head disappeared over the side. Inuyasha fell back onto his bed. Sango's voice returned. "If you don't come, I won't stop pestering you."

Inuyasha threw his blanket off himself and shimmied out of his sleeping bag, grumbling the entire time.

When the two were outside and far from the cabins, Sango turned toward Inuyasha. "What happened between you and Kagome earlier?"

Inuyasha gulped, wondering if he'd be able to come up with a good enough lie for why Kagome was with him. He had nothing. "She told me what Midoriko—" Sango cut him off.

"I know. She told you what the big issue was. I also happened to know that you got her to share a rather large secret—how her parents died. So what happened?"

Inuyasha shrunk back a bit from under the teen girl's glare. "N-nothing, we didn't even fight." He found that he still couldn't believe that small fact. They hated each other. Everything about them was enough to drive the other one insane. So…What happened back there?

Sango took a step closer to Inuyasha, her gaze still hard. "Kagome's my best friend, and if I find out that you did anything, and I mean _anything_, you will have to answer to me!"

Inuyasha took a step back. "I didn't do anything!" he snapped. "Why does everyone think the worst with me?!"

"I'm not thinking the worst, Inuyasha. It's just that I know how much you two despise each other and since you have to spend the entire summer with her, I'm just looking out for her best interest."

Inuyasha folded his arms and tilted his head to the side, glaring at her. "'Looking out for her best interest'?" he repeated. "What a load of crap! I know for a fact that Kagome would never choose me as her partner, and the only logical explanation is that you chose before her and chose Miroku. Now, if you were looking out for her 'best interest', why would you force her into her current position?"

Sango's face flared. "Th-that's different!" she snapped back.

"Oh yeah? How?" Inuyasha challenged.

To be honest, Sango had no idea. She couldn't explain why she would force Kagome into her worst case scenario if she knew she wouldn't like it. What was her reason?

"It…It just is! It's not like you would understand, you're too dense and self-centered to look out for the best interest of your friends!" Sango stammered.

There they go again. People automatically assuming what Inuyasha does, says, and acts. First Kagome and thinking his life was perfect and nothing bad ever happening, and now Sango thinking he doesn't look out for is friends.

He hated it here. He was sick of all the people treating him like he was a criminal wanted for first-degree murder. His eyes narrowed at Sango. "There's nothing wrong, okay? Now, just leave me the hell alone." With that said Inuyasha turned around and returned to his cabin.

Sango, on the other hand, wasn't ready to return just yet. She sank down to the ground and rested on her knees. She had to think. Inuyasha was right when he said she wasn't looking out for Kagome's best interest. Because if she was, there was no way that she would have forced her with Inuyasha for the whole summer.

Sango began drawing abstract patterns in the dirt. But when one design started to look like a dead body outlined from a murder scene, she stopped. A chill ran up her spine. Her head whipped around. Slowly she stood up and looked around. Nothing was there. She decided to write off the chill as the wind and headed back to her cabin.

* * *

**Well, that's the end of it. So, the begining of the problem is starting to arise. I'm sorry if it's going a bit too slow, but I promise that there will be some action in the next chapter.**

**Until then! Luv you all!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	4. Hidden With the Tamashii

**Hello! I'm sorry that this took so long to update, but here it is! Love Under a Bloodred Sky ch. 4: Hidden With the Tamashii! (You'll figure out what tamashii means later.)**

**Okay, gotta keep this fast. Thank you reviewers! I'm so happy that more and more people are starting to get hooked on this story! Oh, DarkFaeireNyroc13 (did i spell that right?) I tried to cut the length, but it just wouldn't cooperate with me. And I didn't check for any errors so please tell me if there are any. **

**Um, in chapter 2, Kouga says something about him and Kagome going to different schools. Um, I messed up! They go to the same school! I'll fix that!**

**Well I have nothing else to say! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or anything from Inuyasha**

**P.S. norainubuchai, when I said that there would be no O.C.s in this story....I lied! Welcome Ai and Mitsuya!**

**Flames are welcome.**

* * *

Chapter 4-Hidden With the Tamashii

Inuyasha always had problems with getting up early in the morning. Most mornings he'd turn off his alarm clock and just sleep for another hour until Sesshomaru forces him out of bed and he's late for school. Some mornings he'd just hit the snooze button and get 30 more minutes of school, resulting in him missing breakfast and then he's snapping at people for the rest of the morning until lunch. And then there are those rare occasions when he gets up without a fuss. The morning of the first day of this camp was an example of said 'rare mornings'. Unfortunately, this morning was quite unlike his normal mornings.

At five a.m., Mitsuya entered the boys' cabin.

"Time to get up, boys! We've got to get an early start today." Miroku and Kouga obediently got out of their beds while Inuyasha stayed put on his.

Mitsuya walked over to where Inuyasha lied, face down. "Um, Inuyasha, it's time to get up."

"Go. Away!" Inuyasha growled, his voice muffled by the pillow.

Mitsuya shrunk back and looked from Inuyasha to Kouga and Miroku. "You guys will get him up right?" The boys nodded and Mitsuya left the cabin.

Kouga sighed and leapt up on the bottom bunk and stuck his head over the railing to Inuyasha's top bunk. "Hey, idiot! Get up!" Inuyasha flailed his arm out in a weak attempt to smack Kouga, but the wolf demon dodged in time. Kouga jumped down to the floor. He looked at Miroku. "I say we just leave him."

Miroku sighed. "I have an idea. Should be entertaining."

Kouga grinned. "I like it already."

A few minutes later, Kouga and Miroku returned to the cabin with Ai. Ai walked up to the sleeping teen.

"Inuyasha, if you don't get up, Ai's going to have to do something she'd rather not do."

Inuyasha just grumbled.

Ai sighed. She turned around to Miroku and Kouga. "I'm going to have to get them." she said, solemnly.

"Who?" Miroku asked.

"_Them_." Ai answered as she passed.

"Wait, who's 'them'?"

Ai reentered the cabin with three other pairs of feet following. "This is your last chance, Inuyasha." Ai warned. Inuyasha didn't budge. "Okay, but this is for your own good." She turned to the three other people. "Sic 'im."

The thunderous sound of feet hitting the floor as they ran filled the cabin. Soon, the blanket Inuyasha was sleeping under was yanked off him. Inuyasha shot up, but was still groggy.

"Give that back!" he snarled, reaching blindly for the blanket.

"Get up!" shouted a loud, and annoyingly familiar voice.

"No!" Inuyasha protested, his head hitting the pillow again.

The voice sighed. "Plan B." it said.

A pair of hands grabbed his arm while two more pairs grabbed his leg. He then found himself being pulled over the side of the bed.

"Wha—!" he shouted but was cut off when he hit the floor with a loud and slightly painful _thud_.

That certainly woke him up. He opened his eyes and met a pair of fierce green eyes, a pair of light brown, gold-speckled eyes, and, to his dismay, a pair of deep brown eyes.

"Are you up?" Kagome asked, leaning down towards him.

"I'm up, I'm up!" Inuyasha snapped, getting to his feet.

"Good! Now get dressed!" Kagome started pushing Inuyasha toward the closet space.

"Stop pushing, I can walk!"

"So get walking!" With one finale shove, Inuyasha fell into the closet, hitting floor again.

"Keh. What are we doing anyway?" Inuyasha asked, scrounging around in his suitcase.

"I don't know, but I do know that it takes two hours to get there and back." Kagome replied. "Hurry up, or I'll pick out something for you."

Inuyasha stomped out of the closet and into the bathroom to change, slamming the door. Minutes later, Inuyasha exited the bathroom to find that Miroku was the only one who waited for him. He grunted and tossed his flannels on his bed.

Scene Change

As Inuyasha and Miroku drew nearer to where they were supposed to meet, they saw the girls sitting on backpacks neatly propped up against a tree.

"The hell is that?" Inuyasha asked once he was closer.

Kagome smirked at him. "It's called a 'backpack', Inuyasha. It's a handy device you use to store things in, such as hiking equipment."

"Well, duh, I knew that!" Inuyasha retorted. "I just want to know why you've got them."

"We're hiking up to a cave." Kagome said, gesturing to a trail that snaked through the trees. "Now as to why _we've _got them, we just do. Ai told us to carry them unless you want to be manly-men and carry them for us." Kagome said with a smirk.

Inuyasha snorted. "No way. I'd rather see you struggle with that thing. I've been in need of a good laugh."

Kagome rolled her eyes.

Kouga's voice broke the silence. "I'll carry your bag, Kagome."

Kagome smiled and got off the backpack. "Thank you Kouga."

Once Kouga's back was turned, Kagome sent an apologetic look to Ayame who had taken on a rather sullen look.

Miroku walked up to Sango. "May I carry that for you, Sango?" he asked.

Sango smiled. "Sure, thank you Miroku." Miroku smiled back.

Since the moment when Miroku shared his secret avocation with Sango a week ago, they had become much closer friends. Of course, that didn't stop Miroku from getting 'familiar' with her body which resulted in a visit from Miroku to the infirmary for some ice. The same thing happened between Inuyasha and Kagome. The night after they both confined big secrets in each other, they had become more tolerant of one another but were still somewhat hostile in some situations.

Finally Ai and Mitsuya appeared both sporting backpacks of their own.

"Ready to do some hiking?" Ai asked, the bells on her bracelets jingling as she moved toward the group.

The jingling of the bells drew Inuyasha's attention down to her feet. His eyes widened at the sight of her shoe-less feet.

"Y-you're no wearing any shoes!" Inuyasha stammered, oblivious to the obvious statement.

Ai looked at him. "Yes, Ai has not worn shoes once at this camp. Not very observant, are we?"

Inuyasha's face flushed once he realized how stupid he sounded. "I _know _that. But what I want to know is why she's going hiking barefooted."

Ai popped her gum. "People travel faster without shoes."

Inuyasha could understand that. Several times he'd find some woods and just run. He'd change back into his true form and run. He would run for hours, sometimes from sunup to sundown. For him, it seemed like running relaxed him. When he finally wound down, he'd relax on a tree branch, listening to nature. And there were those rare times when he'd fall asleep in the tree and stay out there all night.

Kagome clapped her hands together. "Alright, let's go! It's five miles to get to where we're going, and we want to get back before lunch, right?" With that said, Kagome took the lead with Kouga right behind her, carrying the backpack.

Ayame sighed. She got up and slung the backpack she'd be stuck with for five miles over her shoulder and followed Kouga. Next went Sango followed by Ai and Mitsuya. Inuyasha held Miroku back until the group was a ways away before following.

* * *

"Inuyasha, you're starting to make me paranoid." Miroku commented at Inuyasha's eyes constantly darting around the woods.

"Well, sorry! But I could swear that there's something here that shouldn't be!" Inuyasha half whispered half snarled.

Miroku sighed. Ever since they entered the woods, Inuyasha's been on guard. When Miroku asked him what he was being so uptight about, Inuyasha always answered with 'Something's just not right!' After a while, Miroku decided to just trust Inuyasha knew what he was doing, him being a half-demon and all. He still wasn't sure whether that was a good idea or not.

Soon, the group made it to a clearing and decided to take five. Inuyasha pulled out his canteen and brought it to his lips to take a sip as his eyes scanned the area. Kagome noticed, and walked up to him.

"Okay, you've been in the back this entire time and you always have this look on your face." Inuyasha didn't answer. "Do you need to use the bathroom?" Kagome giggled.

Inuyasha's face reddened from anger and embarrassment. "No, I don't!"

"So what's your problem?"

Inuyasha turned back to look at her. "Something just doesn't feel right, okay?"

Kagome's face turned smug. "I've been to this camp every summer since it opened, which was when I was, like, seven. These woods are completely safe."

Out of the corner of his eye, Inuyasha caught some movement. "Look out!" he shouted and pushed Kagome to the ground.

Kagome hit the ground with Inuyasha semi on top of her. "What was—" Kagome didn't get a chance to finish what she was going to say as a large tree fell over and landed right where they had been standing earlier.

Inuyasha stood up. "Completely safe, huh?" Inuyasha scoffed and held out his hand. Kagome hesitantly reached up for it.

Sango was at Kagome's side in an instant. "Kagome, are you okay?!"

In another instant, Ayame was at Kagome's side looking like she was about to cry. "What happened?! It was that serial killer wasn't it? _Wasn't it_?!" Ever since the camp had been informed about the small problem, Ayame had been a little on edge, thinking that every small thing that happened was the work of the serial killer.

"I-I'm fine, Sango, and I seriously doubt that that serial killer would try to kill someone with a tree." Kagome reassured her friends, still a bit in shock.

Sango turned to Inuyasha. "What happened? How did you know that tree would fall?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I don't know, I just saw the tree teetering this way and I knew it was going to fall."

"But how did you get her out of the way so fast?"

"I had a," Inuyasha searched the sky as if it would magically show the word he was looking for. "Adrenaline rush, that's it. Usually happens when you try to save someone." In truth, when Inuyasha caught sight of the teetering, he let some of his demon side leak through the seal to save Kagome.

"Huh. But you know, I could have sworn I saw a slight change in your eyes." Sango commented. Inuyasha arched and eyebrow at her. "There was, like, a small thread of gold rimming the circumference of your iris." Now that she thought about it, Sango had thought she'd seen Inuyasha's eyes change gold when she snuck into his cabin that night about two weeks back. Then she had passed it off as sleep deprivation.

Ai's commanding voice interrupted their conversation. "We're wasting daylight. Let's get moving." She turned around and took the lead.

* * *

After about twenty minutes, the group showed up at a huge hill with a cave snaking through it. Ayame dropped the pack she was carrying to pull out a flashlight. Kouga and Miroku followed suit, pulling out flashlights of their own.

Ai made her way up toward the mouth of the cave and placed her hand on the inside. When she pulled away, her hand was slick with water. "This cave is called Tamashii, or Spirit. Its name originated from the old rumors of lost lives and broken spirits that couldn't find their way into Heaven nor Hell, and were doomed to wander the Earth for all eternity. Back in the late 1800s early 1900s, people in the area would claim to hear a number of disturbing noises." She paused for dramatic effect. "These noises included sharp, high-pitched shrieks, crying children, young girls singing, whispering, and strange, ghostly bells."

Inuyasha locked eyes with Miroku and rolled his eyes at the story. Miroku just shrugged sending Inuyasha a look that seemed to say 'Well, what can you do?'. Inuyasha sighed and shook his head.

Ai turned around to face the mouth of the cave. "Today, we're going for a little hike inside the cave. Ayame: You take the lead."

The wolf demon flicked the switch on and entered the cave. Ai followed along with Mitsuya and the rest of the group was only a few feet behind her.

As they got farther and farther away from the mouth of the cave, it became darker and darker until the only light in the cave was coming from those who were carrying flashlights. Several times, Inuyasha had either stubbed his foot on a large rock on the floor. But when his shin struck a large rock, he snapped.

"Dammit!" he muttered. "Miroku, give me that light!"

Miroku held the light out of Inuyasha's grasp. "No way! I need this too see!"

"You won't be able to see at all through the stars in front of your eyes if you don't give me that light!"

"Just use your demon eyes!"

Inuyasha felt his face heat up with embarrassment. He didn't know why he didn't remember his demon senses. "Feh!" was his clever response.

Inuyasha let his demon side leak out just enough so he could see in the dark cave. That was much better! Now, all he had to do was pray that no one would spontaneously shine a light in his face and catch the significant difference.

Soon, the group made it to an open area in the cave. Inuyasha put the seal back on his demon side once the flashlights were starting to illuminate everyone's faces. They stood in a circle and Ai opened her mouth to speak.

"Throughout our lives, we've been taught to always make good. We've been raised to do the right thing. We've learned that righteousness and justice, conquers all. But unfortunately because of this, most of us have turned a blind-eye to the other side; the dark side. Light and dark are the two sides of the same coin; one cannot live without the other. For there to be goodness, there has to be evil. For there to be happiness, there has to be pain."

Inuyasha sensed Kagome stiffen next to him, but thought nothing of it.

"But the recent news of a serial killer at large in these parts has forced us to look into the eyes of darkness. There is a human out there who enjoys the pain and suffering of others. Most of us spit at the thought him, thinking that there is no way that he is human and deserves what's coming, yet the rest of us pity him, thinking about how he used to be human and how he's now spending his time killing others. Those small few of us realize something that nobody ever really does. Each of us is human, yes, but there is also darkness in everybody. It is up to us, as humans, to suppress that darkness, keep it locked away and hidden. But the only way to do that is to face our darkness ourselves."

Kagome held fast to Inuyasha's hand. The teen was startled by the sudden contact but made no move to free his hand, thinking she was just scared.

"So now, in this short time, we will turn the flashlights off and bask in the darkness of this cave. Use this time to confront the darkness in you, and hide it away forever." Immediately, Ayame, Kouga, and Miroku flicked their lights off one by one, leaving them in total darkness.

As soon as the last light was shut off, everyone was left in silence. Inuyasha let some of his demon side in, heightening his hearing. He heard whimpering.

Inuyasha turned his head in Kagome's direction, letting some of his demon eyes in. He saw Kagome's eyes shut tight and her eyebrows were scrunched together.

_'She really is scared.' _Inuyasha thought. _'I wonder why the darkness frightens her so—ow!' _Inuyasha winced as Kagome tightened her grip on his hand. _'Damn, she's go one hell of a—"_

Before Inuyasha could finish his thought, he felt a burning fire rip through his body. His nails started to grow into claws but reverted back again. Then they would grow again and shrink. The change was going so fast it felt as if his nails were being ripped from his fingers. And then his eyes started to change too. First he couldn't see anything, and then the darkness would clear up as if someone turned on a light, and then they'd revert back to blackness. It started to go from sight to no sight so fast, his head was started to hurt. Soon, the change spread to his fangs and his lips were beginning to split from the constant growing and shrinking of his teeth. Lastly, he felt his skin at his cheekbones start to split and burn.

"Ouch!" he hissed and brought his free hand up to his head. He felt two nubs right where his dog ears would be if he were in his true form. The nubs started growin_g_ bigger and it felt as if his head was being split open from those spots.

_'Wh-what's happening to me?!' _Inuyasha cried out in his head. His vision started to cloud over. Then, instead of darkness, he saw himself; his human self.

The human vision began to change; his black hair grew lighter and lighter until it was a sparkling silver-white. Two dog ears poked out on top of his head and gold started to bleed into his obsidian eyes. He changed into his half-demon self.

Then the half-demon vision began a transformation that Inuyasha had never seen before. The vision's fangs grew larger, much larger and his golden eyes disappeared, replaced by red eyes and eerie blue irises. Purple stripes on either side of his face slithered into place and his claws grew longer and sharper.

Inuyasha felt his eyes widen. _'Is that….me? Am I a full-blooded demon?'_ He had no time to ponder any farther on the subject. As soon as he thought it, he slipped unconscious and fell to the floor.

If it weren't for Kagome calling out his name, no one would've noticed.

"Inuyasha!" she called again, dropping to the floor next to him. By that time, Ayame, Kouga, and Miroku had their flashlights on and were hovering by the unconscious teen. Kagome raised his hand closer to her face. "What happened?" she asked no one in particular. Blood started to seep from his cuticles and around his nails, and that wasn't the only place he was bleeding in. There was blood running down his chin from his mouth and trickling down from his head, and there were angry red burn marks on his cheekbones. She gently brushed his fingers, wiping away some of the blood in the process.

Ai bent over him. "Miroku, Kouga; lift him up." The teens obeyed, lifting Inuyasha up from the ground.

Mitsuya chewed on his fingernail. "Kagome, what happened?"

Kagome shook her head. "I don't know. I grabbed his hand for comfort from the dark and then I felt him falling." She looked over at Inuyasha's form being carried out by Miroku and Kouga with Ai leading the way. _'All that blood,' _she thought. _'Where did it come from?'_

* * *

Inuyasha woke up about an hour later in the infirmary. His head was pounding and it hurt to look at the lights. He moaned and brought his hand to cover his face. When he saw his bandaged fingers, he jumped up.

"What the hell?! What happened?!" He shouted.

"So you're up." A voice said from his left. Inuyasha looked over to find Miroku sitting in a chair, stretching.

"Miroku, what happened?"

Miroku shrugged. "I don't know. Kagome cried out your name and the next thing I knew, Kouga and I were carrying you here. You could ask her about it when she comes back. She's getting herself something to eat."

Inuyasha furrowed his brow. "'When she comes back'?" he repeated.

Miroku nodded. "Yeah she was the only one besides me who was actually worried about you." He arched an eyebrow. "She was pretty worried, are you sure nothing happened between you two that night a week ago?"

Inuyasha growled. "Yeah, I'm sure! I think I would've remembered something like that!" He flopped back down on the bed and moved his hand in front of his face to look at his bandaged fingers.

His mind flooded with memories of the event in the cave. He wasn't sure what happened or what caused him to see those visions. Subconsciously, Inuyasha moved his hand to his head where he had felt his skull split open. Well, it was clear that whatever happened had something to do with the demon inside him and when Sesshomaru came here in a month and a half with Rin, it was going to be the first thing he asked about. Deciding it would be a good idea to tell Miroku, Inuyasha rolled on his side and relayed everything that happened in the cave to Miroku.

Miroku leaned his head back and closed his eyes as he processed what he was just told. "So you had visions of yourself as a full-blooded demon and the demon in you kinda went berserk?"

Inuyasha nodded. "Basically."

The two couldn't dwell on the subject much longer when the door to the room opened.

"You're awake! Are you okay?" Kagome asked as she hastened to his side.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? When you fell to the ground your nails were bleeding and there was blood dripping from your mouth and head. There were also burn marks on the sides of your face."

"Is that why my fingers are bandaged?" Inuyasha asked, bringing his fingers to his face again.

Kagome gaped. "Don't you care at all? Aren't you worried about what happened to you?"

Inuyasha moved his eyes back to Kagome. "Not really, though I admit I have no idea what happened back there."

Just at that moment a nurse walked through the door. "Mr.…." The nurse quickly peeked at the clipboard in her hands. "Arishima, the doctors are calling your brother Sesshomaru to ask to send you do a hospital under the supervision of the diagnostics department to find out what happened to you."

Inuyasha's eyes darkened. "Hospitals? Diagnostics department? No way, not going."

"Mr. Arishima, whatever happened to you in the cave might happen again or even kill you. You need this."

"No! I'm not going! I don't need any diagnostics department poking me with sharp objects! Nothings wrong!" Inuyasha practically shouted.

The nurse's lips thinned to a line. "I'm afraid that's not your call to make." The nurse then turned around and walked out of the room.

Inuyasha threw the blankets off him and got off the bed. "Where're my pants?" he muttered.

Kagome's face flushed slightly at the sight of Inuyasha in a hospital gown but ignored it. "Inuyasha, don't you think it would be better if you let doctors find out what happened?"

"I told you, nothing happened!" Inuyasha snapped at her. He found his pants and shoved his legs inside, and yanked the hospital gown off, exposing his chest. He turned around to Kagome. "I just feinted, okay?"

Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand and shoved it in his face. "Then how do you explain this!" she shouted at him. "You just started bleeding! Nobody just spontaneously starts bleeding!"

Inuyasha wrenched his hand out of her grasp. His face was red from anger. "Who cares?! Besides I hate hospitals!" He paused to pull his shirt over his head before continuing. "All those germs flying around and those people who are on the verge of dying, disgusting! If they're going to die, don't try and save them, just let them die!"

Kagome shrunk back from his outburst but Inuyasha didn't care. He pushed passed her and slammed the door on his way out. Kagome stared after him, slightly shocked.

Miroku sighed and stood up. "You'll have to excuse him. As you probably know, his mother died from a sickness when he was still a kid. But what you probably don't know—and he'd most likely want to kill me for telling you this—is what happened in the hospital that day." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before he continued. "When his mother fell ill, they took her to a diagnostics department. They diagnosed her with the flu and put her on meds to help fight off the virus. You may want to take a seat; this next part is a little…"

He didn't have to say anymore. Kagome understood and quickly took a seat, preparing herself for the worst. Miroku continued. "Okay, so they put her on meds and one of the doctors went to tell Inuyasha that she would be fine. They were wrong; they misdiagnosed her. It turns out that she had the Spanish Influenza." The breath in Kagome's throat caught. "They closed her off in a quarantined room along with the doctors who were treating her and anyone who may have come into contact with her. When they confirmed that Inuyasha was fine, they forbade him to see his mother." Miroku clenched his fist. "I guess the tears of a child have no effect on doctors. Anyway, the medicine they gave her didn't help and somehow sped up the process. She didn't make it through the day. I'm sure you can imagine how Inuyasha felt."

When Miroku was finished with his story, Kagome was close to tears herself. "So…that's why he doesn't like hospitals or the diagnostics department." she said in a small voice.

Miroku nodded. "Yeah. They say that you don't lose something without gaining something, but losing a mother, and then gaining the fact that they were able to contain the virus and keep it from spreading, that's…..that's just ridiculous!"

The two sat in silence for a little while longer. Finally Kagome stood up. "I'm going to go find him." She turned around and exited the room.

No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't stop thinking about Miroku's story. Losing a mother, someone who has cared for you your entire life, who's bound to you and loves you and will accept you no matter what, it's like losing a part of you. Tears pricked behind Kagome's eyes. And when her mind drifted to the night of her parents' murder, a tear escaped and slid down her face. She would've completely broken down if she hadn't opened the door to the infirmary lobby. There she heard a nurse arguing with someone on the phone.

"Mr. Arishima, I implore you to reconsider. The boy feinted in the cave and spontaneously started bleeding! The doctors don't know what's wrong with him and would like to have him checked out before…..Sir, I'm sure that he is _not _okay!......N-no I'm not ordering you…..Yes sir……Sorry sir…..I'm sure you're right. Good day." The nurse hung up the phone.

"So? Am I going or not?" said a voice to Kagome's right. Kagome looked over and found Inuyasha slouched in a seat.

The nurse shook her head. "No, apparently you're staying here." Inuyasha bent his head back and mouthed the words 'Thank God' and the nurse walked out.

Kagome stood there, watching Inuyasha. If he knew that she was there, he did a great job of hiding it.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome started. He didn't answer. "Inuyasha, please say something." Still no answer. Kagome sighed. "Inuyasha, I just wanted to say…" Say what? That she was sorry? Sorry that his mother died? Her mother died too! In fact she was murdered right before her eyes! So what gives him the right to mope around about his mother who died of sickness while her mother was murdered? No. Kagome didn't want to think like that. She didn't want to be the one to judge who has the right to be upset. After all, his mother also died. The fact of the matter is, both of their mothers are dead, both of them died in horrible ways, and they were both left motherless if not parentless. They both had the right to mope.

"If it feels like I'm ignoring you, it's 'cause I am" Inuyasha said, snapping Kagome out of her thoughts. Inuyasha stood up and leered at Kagome with hate-filled eyes. "Look, why don't you just leave me alone? I'm getting real sick of you acting like we're the best of friends. So I told you that my parents died; it doesn't mean that we can break out the needle and thread and sew our hips together."

Kagome scrunched her eyebrows together. "Wha? But I thought that we were getting somewhat along."

"Yeah, well, I don't need you hanging over me like some friggn' baby mobile!"

"Inuyasha, I'm just worried about you!"

"I don't need you worrying about me! Let's just go back to when we avoided speaking to each other! Let's pretend that that damned heart-to-heart never even happened!" With that said, Inuyasha stormed out of the infirmary leaving behind a confused and upset Kagome.

* * *

A soft knocking sounded at the door followed by its familiar creaking. "May I come in?" said a voice. Kagome didn't answer and the voice took it as a yes.

Miroku sat at the bed across from where Kagome was lying. "I heard about what Inuyasha said to you at the infirmary." Kagome didn't answer. "You know, he really does see you as a friend. It may be hard to believe but you tend to grow on people, even those as thick as Inuyasha." There was still no answer from Kagome. Miroku continued. "Inuyasha isn't a person who likes it when people worry over him. He even gets angry at me when I worry about him."

"But that doesn't mean he can just push away his friends." Kagome finally said.

"No, you're right, that doesn't give him that right. It's just that the last person who worried about him and who he got close too…died of the Spanish Influenza. Since then, he's just kinda pushed people away, afraid to get hurt again." Kagome stopped speaking again.

Miroku stood up. "Just, don't think badly of him." After a pause, he exited the cabin, leaving Kagome alone.

After wallowing in despair for a while longer, Kagome crawled under the covers. She was tired and felt a little sick. At least that's what she told Sango who came in a little while later to ask her if she was alright and wanted to continue with the activities planned. The real thing that kept her in bed was reluctance to see Inuyasha. Soon she fell asleep.

That night she had a dream about Inuyasha. But there was something else too. That something else seemed to be hidden in the shadows somewhere, never coming out, just watching the two.

* * *

**Okay, I gotta go, like now! But, reviews are welcome! And do you think Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship is going to fast? 'Cause it always annoyed me in other stories when it did...**

**Okay, gotta go! Luv you all!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	5. A Glimpse into the Past

**Oh my Gawd! Fi-nal-ly! Another update! I am soooooooooo sorry that it took so long to update! I've been a little busy at school about two weeks ago. I was staying after cuz I was working the mics on our schools musical and I was there everyday after school until Thursday and Friday when the performance was actually taking place. I wasn't even _thinking _about my stories cuz my mind was only on how the hell I was going to finish my stupid math homework whcih I had no idea how to do and then eat and get there in time for the sound checks and who's going on at what time and who has there mic off and who needs to be louder, it was hell! And on Friday we had an after party so I was up late for that. I just got so out of my schedule that I couldn't get back on! And when I finally did get back on, I was trying to add to my 5th chapter of One Day, One Night but I was just so stuck on it. But eventualy, I got this finished and posted so yay me.**

**This is probably _the_ shortest chapter I've ever done. If u want to see the longes chapter I've ever done, go look at Chapter 4 of One Day, One Night. Anyway that was a little irrelivent. (did i spell that right?). I wanted to continue this a little more but whatever I tried to add on looked forced and lame, and everytime I read and re-read the chapter it seemed complete and just fine with its ending.**

**This chapter doesn't really have anything advancing the killer's moves, but it's super important cuz it shows a bit of the past. **

**Um, what else do I need to say.....Oh ya! In the last chapter I (and reader Namike) apparently felt like Inuyasha's and Kagome's relationship to a step in the opposite direction. That really bugged me so I fixed it a little in this chapter, though I feel like it's a little corny. Just the smallest of fluff so don't get your hopes up. Least no yet ;)**

**As to what happened to Inuyasha in the cave; that wasn't some random tid-bit I added cuz i though it was cool. Remember that.**

**Not much else to say but enjoy chapter 5, A Glimpse into the Past!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or the poem "Come Little Children" by Edgar Allen Poe**

**P.S. I feel like this must be said: bingbangboom714, THE OFFICE ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!! LUV THAT SHOW!!!!!!!**

**Flames are welcome.**

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Chapter 5: A Glimpse into the Past

_I stood alone. Darkness surrounded me and the only light was a single spotlight, illuminating where I stood. Noises could be heard; I heard footsteps echoing in the vast darkness. Another spotlight suddenly clicked on and he stood underneath it, looking directly at me with his dark eyes. A quiet smile graced his lips for the smallest of seconds before dissolving completely. His eyes widened and he yelled something at me. But I couldn't hear; his voice was inaudible. The footsteps grew louder at the same time that he started running toward me. I knew that it wasn't his footsteps because his running was out of sync with the footsteps. _

_Soon he was right in front of me. He yelled something at me again but I still couldn't hear him. I read his lips and picked out the words _'get'_, _'now'_, and _'hurry'_. What does that mean? Suddenly a look of terror filled his eyes. I tried to look behind me but he grabbed my shoulder and spun me back around. He held my face in his hands so I wouldn't look behind me. I shot him a questioning and our eyes locked. Slowly, he brushed the back of his hand up and down my cheek. He leaned in slightly but stopped. His eyes suddenly filled with guilt and his hands disappeared from their place on the sides of my face. He took a few steps back and faded from sight. I don't know why, but began walking forward, hoping to find him._

_I followed him for what seemed like forever until I came across another spotlight. In this spotlight there was a small figure hunched over. As I drew nearer, I heard that she was singing softly_

"Come little children I'll take thee away, into a land of Enchantment."

_I recognized the lyrics to be a poem written by American writer Edgar Allen Poe. I vaguely remember reading about him somewhere._

"Come little children the time's come to play here in my garden of Shadows."

_I vaguely recognized the tune. I know I've heard it somewhere, I just can't remember where._

"Follow sweet children I'll show thee the way through all the pain and the Sorrows."

"Weep not poor children for life is this way murdering beauty and Passions."

_But I clearly remember how much I despise the song. I remember how scared of it I was; how scared of it I still am._

"Hush now dear children it must be this way to weary of life and Deceptions."

_The girl stopped singing and turned around. When I saw her face I wanted to scream. I tried, but I couldn't. The girl was me—me on the night my parents were killed. But her eyes—my eyes—were just two black holes. I stumbled back into a hard chest. I turned around and my eyes met his. A feeling of safety rose in my chest but shriveled up when he began to change. He changed into a dark, grinning figure._

_I'll never forget that grin. That horrible, sickening, disgusting grin that slithered on _his _face. The grin that _he _showed me after I found them dead on the floor._

_I tried to pull away but his arms held firm on my waist. His grinned widened and his mouth opened. He sung the next verse to the song._

"Rest now my children for soon we'll away into the calm and the Quiet."

_His voice was deep and sinister. I tried to pull away again but it was futile. I was stuck. _

_He tilted his head to the side and a sickening snapping echoed throughout the darkness. I couldn't move. He released me and let me fall to the ground. And in my line of vision laid a small music box. A small familiar music box playing the same familiar tune._

"Come little children I'll take thee away, into a land of Enchantment."

"Come little children the time's come to play here in my garden of Shadows…………….

Kagome woke up with her hand over her mouth to stifle the scream that was threatening to form. The alarm clock read 6:45 but she was far too much awake to fall asleep again. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead on top of them. Soon she decided to get out of bed and get dressed.

A similar event was going on in the cabin right next to Kagome's. Inuyasha had woken up from a nightmare as well. The only difference was that he was reliving the moment when he was begging—crying—to see his mother but the doctors weren't letting him. He remembered the event significantly….

_A small boy, no less than five years old, was sitting on a chair, legs swinging over the edge. The dog-like ears on the top of his head twitched as he picked up the hushed conversation between the doctors in the closed off room. Inuyasha tried his best to understand what was going on and why he, his mother, and some other people were closed off in this room but he couldn't understand a word they were saying. The words they were using were too big for his young mind to comprehend. _

_His mother was taken over with a violent coughing fit. The young half-demon attention was immediately diverted to his sick mother, fear rising in his eyes. One of the doctors hurried to her side to stop the coughing. A small, childlike, growl emitted from Inuyasha's throat as the doctor advanced toward his mother. He didn't like the doctors. They scared him the way they were dressed in theses bulky, white, suits with huge gloves and boots and helmet covering their head and face. There wasn't any sign of exposure anywhere in those suits. It was like they were trying to keep something out. If that was the case, why hadn't he gotten one? Or his mother?_

_Soon his mother's coughing fit subsided and Inuyasha immediately relaxed. But he tensed right up again as one of the doctors drew near him. _

_"We have to run some tests on you, okay?" she said. The doctor's hand moved closer to Inuyasha but he shrunk back._

_"Why?" he asked in a small voice._

_"We have to make sure that you're not sick too."_

_He still wasn't convinced but his mother wouldn't want him to get sick. She would just worry about him and he didn't want her to pay attention to anything else but to get better. "Will it hurt?" he asked._

_"Just for a little bit. We need to draw some of your blood." The doctor pulled out a needle._

_Inuyasha's eyes widened at the sight of the point. "No!" he cried. "No needles! No needles!" When he was three, Inuyasha's mother had taken him in for a vaccination. Though he was half-demon, she still wanted to take extra precautions to make sure he would be safe, being the doting mother that she was. He may have been very young—to young to remember anything at that age—the feel of the needle piercing his skin was still alive and vivid in his memory._

_The doctor tried to place a hand on Inuyasha's head to calm him down but Inuyasha pulled away. "No needles!" he repeated again._

_The doctor sighed, obviously aggravated. "What if I told you that it would help your mother?" she tried._

_Inuyasha calmed down slightly. "How?" he asked._

_"If you're not sick, then we may find out a way to make her feel better. Not to mention she would be happy to know that you're fine."_

_"Will it really make her better?" Inuyasha wanted to confirm._

_"Yes." The doctor lied._

_Inuyasha extended a shaking arm. The doctor rubbed a strong smelling substance on his skin with a cotton ball. She readied the needle and plunged it in his skin. He cried out in pain. _

_The doctor continued the procedure and pulled the needle out. She taped a band-aid over the puncture and left the room with a needle full of is blood. _

_Minutes later the same doctor hurried back in the room, a frantic expression on her face. She made her way over to Inuyasha, who was now standing next to his mother's bed. _

_"You're gonna have to leave now." She told him._

_"Why?"_

_"Because you're not sick."_

_Inuyasha's face lit up. "I'm not sick? Does that mean you'll be able to find a way to help mommy?"_

_"Yes, but you'll have to leave so you don't catch it from her." The doctor pulled on Inuyasha's hand but he was reluctant to go. _

_"Do I really have to?" he asked, almost wined._

_The doctor was started to get really worried. "Yes you do. If you stay, you might get sick and won't be able to help your mother."_

_Inuyasha's ears flattened against his head. "Okay. But she will be fine?"_

_Suddenly a loud beeping noise sounded from the monitor Inuyasha's mother was hooked up to. _

_"B.P.s dropping." One doctor said. More rushed to his side. The doctor that held Inuyasha's hand tugged harder but Inuyasha stayed put. _

_"Is she okay? Will she be okay?" he asked frantically. The doctor didn't have time to answer when the machine that monitored Inuyasha's mother's heart rate started to flatten._

_"We need a crash cart in here!" Another doctor shouted. _

_Finally, the doctor was able to yank Inuyasha toward the door. Inuyasha tried to pull away. His demon instincts told him that she wasn't alright._

_"Mommy!" he shouted, but the doctor pulled him out the door. Inuyasha fought back but wasn't able to free himself. "Mommy!" he cried again._

_"Your mother will be fine!" the doctor shouted, close to hysterics now. _

_"No! Something's wrong!" Inuyasha shouted. He could feel tears starting to form. _

_"Kid, you need to get out!" the doctor shouted at him. She could see the tears flowing freely down his face. She felt a twinge of pity but brushed it off. Why should she care? He was a half-demon after all._

_"Mommy!" Inuyasha shouted again. "MOMMY!"_

Inuyasha's eyes snapped open. Sweat drenched his entire body. He rubbed sleep from his eyes and sat up, resting his head in his hands. Finally he pulled his hands away and checked the clock.

"6:55," he muttered. "Damn."

Deciding that he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, he leaped off the top bunk and moved to get dressed. Minutes later, he opened the creaking door and sauntered outside. As the door creaked closed behind him, some unknown force pushed his feet to turn toward the girls' cabin. He stopped suddenly when he heard someone humming a tune. Soon the humming turned to soft signing.

"Come little children there's time to play here in my garden of Shadows."

The voice was nice and pure, and he would've enjoyed the slight surprise if the lyrics hadn't sent chills down his spine. Then he heard the sound of a hand smacking a forehead.

"Argh! Stop singing that song!" the oddly familiar voice snapped. Inuyasha edged closer to the voice.

"It's all because of that music box! That stupid, stupid music box! Playing the same, haunting, song over and over again, every time someone decided to open the thing! Why did dad have to bring that horrid thing home?!" she practically screamed. Inuyasha was sure the voice belonged to a she. In fact, he was quite sure he knew who the voice belonged too.

Inuyasha felt bad for the way he treated her yesterday. He wasn't thinking; he had merely been acting out of instinct. Since his mother died, he had always pushed people away and lashed out at those who tried to help him. Even Miroku and Rin.

He knew he had to make amends. He tried to move forward to apologize to Kagome but somehow his legs wouldn't cooperate with him. He was too much of a coward to face her after what happened. Surly she was mad at him, and she probably hated him now more than ever. Inuyasha silently cursed himself for screwing up their only chance at any sort of relationship, whether it would be inseparable BFFs or simply just acquaintances. But it was too late now.

Inuyasha turned around and began to trudge back to his cabin. When he heard Kagome begin to cry, it surprised him how much he cared. If Inuyasha knew anything, it was that he didn't like it when Kagome cried. He even hated it back when they first met.

Kagome was good; honest. Unlike him. She didn't deserve to be hurt. She didn't deserve to cry.

* * *

The feeling of small waves lapping against her ankles was enough to relax Sango. Two weeks had past since the day in the caves and Kagome and Inuyasha had been avoiding each other which was a very hard thing to do since they were partners for the whole summer. It was only one month into the camp and Sango wasn't sure how much more she could take if the two continued to act the way they were. She had tried to find out what the problem was but every time she asked she was just kinda brushed off to the side. Sango sighed and wadded to shore, water splashing everywhere. When she slipped on her sandals she met up with Miroku.

"Miroku." She said curtly, still mad at his hands from earlier that day.

Miroku laughed nervously. "Um, sorry about that." Though he said he was sorry, there was still a twinkle in his eye at the memory.

Sango sighed again. "Did you want something?"

Miroku nonchalantly kicked the sand. "Not really. I just came by to offer you something."

Sango arched an eyebrow. "What?"

Miroku's eyes widened in innocence. "It's nothing like that, honest!" He pulled out a small wrapped bundle from behind his back. "Just thought you might like to have it."

Sango took the bundle and unwrapped it. A small gasp escaped her lips as she held up the small wooden fox. "Miroku…"

He smiled slightly. "Sorry it took me so long to finish it. Couldn't find any alone time to work on it."

Out of happiness, Sango threw her arms around Miroku's neck. Startled, Miroku returned the friendly embrace. "Thank you so much!" Sango said.

"I'm glad you liked it."

They stood there like that for a few more moments then Sango thought necessary before she pushed him away and smacked him. "Way to ruin a moment, you pervert!" she shouted.

Miroku laughed. "Sorry, sorry, you were just so close I couldn't help myself."

Sango sighed exasperated but let the comment slide. _This _time. A small figure behind Miroku caught her attention. "Is he okay?" she asked Miroku.

Miroku turned around to see Inuyasha sulking. Inuyasha mindlessly kicked a rock and watched it roll down the hill. Miroku sighed. "I think that he wants to apologize to Kagome but is too scared to face her."

Sango narrowed her eyes. "Is that so?" She sidestepped Miroku and started to walk toward Inuyasha. Miroku stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"How 'bout we finish what we started later?" he said with a wink.

"Ugh, you pervert!" Sango wrenched her wrist free only to smack Miroku over the head. She turned around on the heel of her sandals and made her way to the sulking teen.

"Hey!" she said when Inuyasha was in hearing range. The teen turned his head and looked at Sango. "What's your problem?" she hissed at him.

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "I have no problem. Why don't you tell me yours?" Sango responded with a knock over the head. "Ow!" Inuyasha snarled.

"The way you two are acting is really starting to get annoying. You're acting like little kids whose candy just fell to the ground!" Inuyasha rolled is eyes at the analogy.

"Listen—" he started but was cut off.

"And what's more is that the way you won't buck up and apologize to her is really pathetic."

Inuyasha shifted his eyes so they were looking over Sango's shoulder. He didn't respond.

"She was worried about you! What did you hope to gain from pushing her away like that?! Do you _want _to end up alone, your only company coming from a cat that is about to drop dead?!"

Inuyasha didn't say anything for the longest time. Sango was about to give up and walk away when Inuyasha finally parted his lips to speak. "I was protecting her."

Sango arched an eyebrow. "Protecting her…Wha?"

"Anybody and everybody who gets close to me, well, they end up like my mother. Although not necessarily dead."

"They end up leaving you?" Sango scoffed. "Sounds more like you're protecting yourself from being hurt."

Inuyasha visible winced at what she said. But he couldn't lie to himself—it was true. He _was _just protecting himself. Was that selfish? Was that bad? Does self-centeredness fall under pride from the seven deadly sins? Or should it be a category all on its own? Either way, he still felt like crap.

"Just, hurry up and be a man!" Sango said and stormed away to rejoin her group.

Inuyasha's eyes followed the girl but eventually landed on the one he'd been avoiding. It scared him just how much he came to understand her in the month that he's been here. He could tell that even though she was smiling hugely and her eyes were sparkling, her grin wasn't nearly as big as it usually was and her eyes weren't sparkling enough. And he couldn't help but feel how it was his entire fault.

Because that fact of the matter is, it was.

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It was well after lunch and cabins 18 and 17 were enjoying a nice hike through the woods. That is, that was their original intention. As soon as the boys met up with the girls, the tension that washed over them was so thick you could cut it with a knife. They had been walking for nearly half an hour and no one had spoken anything to each other. Sure once or twice Ayame had tried to strike up a conversation with Kouga, but not even he felt like talking.

Kagome crossed her arms across her chest. She looked behind her at Inuyasha who kept his head down the entire time. Her lips parted in preparation to speak, but she closed them again.

_'What happened to my earlier courage?' _she silently asked herself. During the time that Kagome and the others were getting ready for the hike, she vowed to herself that she was going to have a talk with Inuyasha. She had seen Sango speaking with Inuyasha after breakfast and, knowing her, she was probably giving him and earful.

Kagome shook her head. She didn't want Sango fighter her fights for her. That wasn't fair to Sango, herself, or even Inuyasha. Her attitude towards people was _'If you have something to say to someone then say it!' _and she would be quite the hypocrite if she didn't live up to her own rules.

Filled with newfound courage, Kagome turned on her heel, marched toward Inuyasha, hooked her arm around his, and dragged him of the trail and into the woods.

"Don't hurt him now!" Ai called from the front of the line.

* * *

When she felt like she was far enough away from the group, Kagome stopped and released Inuyasha. She turned around and the two stared at each other for a while, both too scared to say something first.

Inuyasha clenched his fist. _'She's obviously waiting for an apology!' _he shouted in his head. Summoning up the courage, Inuyasha looked right at Kagome, straitened up, took a deep breath, opened his mouth and…..

"I'm sorry."

Inuyasha's mouth stayed open in shock. He looked at Kagome, the one who apologized.

"I'm sorry if it felt like I was treading on sensitive territory. I should never have allowed Miroku to tell me what happened to your mom. It was such a sensitive thing. I should've waited until you were ready to tell me."

Inuyasha looked away, expertly masking his blush with his long hair. "No, you don't have to apologize." he mumbled. "He was just explaining to you why I acted the way I did." He swallowed before he continued. "Um….I-if anyone should be apologizing, it should be me."

The corner of Kagome's mouth twitched. "Oh, is the proud Inuyasha actually apologizing?" she teased.

Inuyasha chuckled. "Don't let Hell freeze over, right?"

Kagome laughed lightly and Inuyasha was relieved she was back to her normal self. She took a step closer to him. "Let's start over, shall we?" she said, extending her arm. "Hi, I'm Kagome Higurashi."

Inuyasha took Kagome's hand. "I'm Inuyasha Arishima. It's nice to meet you."

With one shake of the hand, the two sealed their new found friendship.

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**So this one didn't leave a cliff-hanger and i'm okay with that because i couldn't add anything on to this chapter. **

**O one more thing: I took a sort of quiz thing that my friend optimisticatgirl sent me that showed which percentage of u was girlish and which percentage of u was boyish. Now it was weird enough that's I'm 60% boyish when I'm a girl (hey! i love football okay?!?) but what really pushed me over the line was that Im 35% girlish! 35%!!!!! What the hell is the other 5%?!?!?**

**Heh. Anyway, until next time! Luv ya! **

**Miss Saigon11**


	6. The Storm

**Hey! Miss Saigon11 here! I'm happy to present to you Love Under a Bloodred Sky, Chapter 6--The Storm! Is it a real storm? Or is it a figuritive metaphor that actually means a storm in a heart? Or between two people?! Ok, going to shut up now.**

**Ok, I don't have much to say this time around, but I will say this: Please enjoy Love Under a Bloodred Sky, Chapter 6--The Storm!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha. However, I do own the plot and the characters Ai and Mitsuya.**

**Flames are welcome.**

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Camp Story Ch. 6: The Storm

"Ayame, do you have any fours?" Kagome asked, turning over in her bed so she was resting on her back with her head hanging over the side.

"Nope, go fish." the wolf demon says from her spot on the floor. Kagome sighed and stretched her arm out to pluck a card from the shrinking deck.

Lightning flashed and thunder clapped as rain pelted down on the roof of the cabin, drowning out all other noises. Kagome shifted back onto her stomach once the blood began rushing to her head. She casually raised her wrist to check the time on her watch, which she had suddenly remembered was in her bag. Another sigh escaped her lips as she found out that it had been less than five minutes since she last looked at the time though it seemed like and eternity. _'I'm so bored!' _she screamed in her head.

Sango, sensing her friend's distress, growled and threw her cards down on the floor. "C'mon guys! We've been playing cards for about an hour now and its hella obvious that we're all bored!"

Ayame lowered her back down on the floor and stretched her arms above her head. "Well, Sango, do you have a better idea?"

A grin spread across Sango's lips. "Always." She stood up and headed toward the closets. Moments later she returned with a black umbrella. "Hurry and get your umbrellas, ladies!"

Kagome stared up at her in confusion. "Why are we going outside?"

"Well, we're certainly not going to stand around in the rain, acting as if we want to get hit by lightning or something." Sango said, trying to hint at her idea.

"So then why are we going out there? Are we going to run around in the rain, acting as if we don't want to get hit by lightning but secretly do?" Ayame joked.

Sango popped her umbrella open inside, ignoring the superstition surrounding it, at raised it above her head. She thrust her hip out and placed her hand on it as if she were a model posing for rain gear. "We're going to visit the boys!"

Hearing this, and instantly agreeing to it, Ayame got to her feet and went to fetch her umbrella. Kagome, however, stayed put on the floor, eyes wide.

The other day, she and Inuyasha finally decided to become friends. During a hike, Kagome pulled him out of the group and dragged him to a secluded area so she could apologize for digging up old memories. Inuyasha said she had nothing to be sorry for and apologized himself for acting like such and ass to her. In the end, they decided to become newly acquainted friends and left to go find the group. However, Miroku, being the pervert that he is, made a suggestive comment that caused both teens faces to heat up immensely.

Even though that was yesterday, Kagome didn't think that she was ready to face him yet.

"Sango," she started in a small voice, "I don't think—"

"Kags, the whole hand-thing happened yesterday. Just forget about it and come with us."

Kagome twitched inwardly when Sango called her 'Kags'. She loathed the nickname to death—and Sango knew that. It was a clear sign that Sango was going to put up a fight about this. But Kagome wasn't going to give up.

Kagome raised her chin. "No thanks, I'd rather stay here. I brought a few books to read and I think I'd like to get started on them."

"C'mon Kags!" Sango pleaded, using the hated nickname again. "It'll be fun!"

Kagome twitched again. "I don't feel like going out into the rain, umbrella or no umbrella."

"It's not like the water will hurt you," Sango scoffed, "Kags."

Kagome's fists clenched together. "I don't want to get wet."

"Kags, you never complain when you take a shower."

Finally, Kagome snapped. "If I come with you, will you stop calling me that?!"

Sango's face broke into a huge grin. "Yes! I knew you'd come around!"

"More like forced around." Kagome murmured, getting her umbrella.

"Details schmetails."

Once all the girls had their umbrellas in hand, Sango threw the door open and ventured outside, shielding herself from the rain with her umbrella. Ayame and Kagome followed suit. In less than twenty seconds, the girls stepped up onto the boys' cabin porch. Sango grabbed the handle and pushed the door open.

"Heeeeeeeey!" she called and walked through the door, followed by Ayame and then Kagome.

The boys looked up from their game of 'Go Fish' at the sudden intrusion. Kagome giggled at the sight of Inuyasha hanging on one of the bottom bunks in the same position she had been in earlier.

"Funny what people will do when they're bored." Ayame said.

Inuyasha arched an eyebrow. "And that's supposed to mean…?" his voiced trailed off at the end, signaling her to explain what she said.

"We were just playing the same thing." Kagome answered for her.

Inuyasha raised his body back up into a sitting position and crossed his legs, a cocky grin gracing his face. "Really? Cuz it looks to me like you were playing in the mud." He gestured to the muddy mess on Kagome's legs and shorts.

"I-I just slipped!" Kagome said in her defense, a blush creeping up her neck. She had no idea why she was blushing. Anybody would've noticed the mess and looked at it. Still, it irked her slightly that he was looking at her legs. Suddenly she wanted to race back to her cabin and put on one of Ai's long skirts so he wouldn't be able to see them.

"Well, don't sit down anywhere until that dries!" Kouga warned. "I don't need this place to be any dirtier than it already is."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "The first thing I found out about Kouga?" he asked more to himself. "The pansy's a neat freak." He jumped out of the bottom bunk and onto the one on top as Kouga lunged at him.

"So," Miroku started, gathering up all the cards that were strewn across the floor. "What brings you ladies over here?"

"Cuz we were bored just sitting around playing 'Go Fish' for and hour. I don't even like that game." Sango said taking a seat on the floor.

Miroku scooted closer to her. "Really? Neither do I." Sango responded with a smack at the feel of his hand traveling down her back.

"Keep your hands to yourself!" she snarled.

The lights flickered out for a moment and suddenly turned on. Kagome dropped to the floor beside Sango, ignoring Kouga's command. Inuyasha dropped down next to her. Since the time they were in the caves, it was evident that Kagome hated the dark. Just as to why, he still didn't know.

Kouga leered at Inuyasha as he sat down next Miroku and Ayame. Ayame giggled at the circle they had subconsciously made.

"It's like we're in elementary school again!" she exclaimed.

"Thank God we're not!" Inuyasha snapped. "Worse years of my life."

"Why'd you hate them?" Sango inquired.

"Does it really matter _why _I hated them?" he snarled.

"Come to think of it, didn't we meet at around that time, Inuyasha?" Miroku pondered.

"Huh? Oh yeah that's right?"

Sango's eyebrows scrunched together. "But Miroku, did you say you were home schooled?"

"Oh I was. My father was on a business trip to where Inuyasha lived and I went with him. It was at a park that we met. He helped me find the bathroom."

Inuyasha smirked at the memory. "Yeah, too bad you didn't make it." Miroku's face turned beet red as they all laughed.

"You just gonna take that, Miroku?" Kagome giggled. "Don't you have anything to dish back?"

"If only!" Miroku practically shouted. "I've never seen him trip and he doesn't seem to make any mistakes!"

Inuyasha grinned and leaned back against the bottom bunk. "What can I say? It's a gift."

Miroku scoffed. "Some gift. It's more genetic if you ask me."

"Genetic? How can it be genetic?" Sango asked skepticism clear in her voice.

"Depending on the different types of being your parent is—"

"Finish that sentence and I'll rip your head off." Inuyasha growled sinisterly. Miroku gulped.

An awkward silence passed throughout the cabin. Kagome opened her mouth to say something but she screamed instead as the power went out at the same time that a huge clap of thunder sounded.

Inuyasha growled at looked up at the ceiling. "Oh for the love of all that is sane!" he griped.

Sango sighed. "Don't worry; you should have candles and matches in the bathroom for such emergencies." She got up and headed toward the bathroom. Minutes later, she returned with three candles; two for the small table next to the door and one she kept for herself.

"That was really scary." Kagome practically whispered. "It almost seemed like lightning struck really close to the cabin."

"I'm sure we'll be fine, Kagome." Ayame said, trying to reassure her friend.

Kouga closed his eyes and sighed. Suddenly his eyes snapped open. "Do I….smell smoke?" His statement alerted everyone and soon they were all sniffing for smoke.

Inuyasha whipped around. "There!" he shouted, pointing to the corner of the cabin to the left of the door. And sure enough, there was wood darkening where the fire was burning. Everyone was stunned into silence. A clap of thunder brought everyone back to reality and they all pushed towards the door.

Everyone stumbled outside and gasped at the sight in front of them. Though it was a fire caused by the lightning, there was too much wood for the fire to feed off it didn't get extinguished by the heavy down pour. Part of the boys' cabin was on fire!

Demon instincts immediately kicked in and Inuyasha turned to Kagome. "Get Midoriko!" he shouted before taking off running. The mess hall was too far away to get a bucket so his only hope was the small shed next to the huge bon fire pit. Inuyasha threw the door open, grabbed a bucket, and took off to the lake. He skidded to a stop at the shore, scooped water up into the bucket, and made a beeline back to the cabin where he threw the water onto the fire. Sango, Miroku, Ayame, and Kouga quickly realized what Inuyasha was trying to do, and ran to grab buckets for themselves.

A crowed had begun to form and the counselors ran to grab buckets for themselves. Ai stood on the outside of the crowed, eyes fixed on the fire, muttering something unintelligible. Minutes later, Kagome returned with Midoriko and a promise that the fire department was on its way. The minutes ticked by slowly and although they weren't able to put the flame out, they were able to keep it from spreading any farther.

Soon enough, the fire department came tearing across the camp grounds toward the burning cabin. The counselors and campers put their buckets down as the firefighters took up their hoses and began shooting streams of water at the fire. Inuyasha and the others dropped down to the ground, worn out from the constant running back and forth from the lake to the cabin.

Kagome sat down next to her friends. "Are you guys alright? None of you got burned, did you?" she asked.

Inuyasha flashed a smirk. "I'm too good to get burned by some measly fire." he stated arrogantly.

"I think I did." Sango said, inspecting her hand.

"Would you like me to lick it for you, Sango?" Miroku asked, reaching for her hand. Sango smacked his hand away

A fireman approached the group. "You the boys who sleep in this cabin?" he asked Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kouga. They nodded. "Fortunately for you, the fire didn't do too much damage to the scaffolding. It's safe to stay in but I'd prefer it if you all steered clear of sleeping on the bunks on the right wall." The boys nodded and the fireman walked off to help load everything back up.

"So," Inuyasha said, stretching out and supporting his weight with his hands, "who's gonna sleep on the floor? There're only two beds on the left side, right?"

"You." Kouga answered without any hesitation.

"And why me?"

"Because you're stupid and stupid people shouldn't sleep on beds."

"Oh really? So then why do you get one?" Inuyasha challenged.

Miroku, sensing the tension between the two boys, interjected his own two-bits. "Kouga, why don't you take the floor? You're a demon and I'm sure it wouldn't bother you."

"Why don't you sleep on the floor, monk?" Kouga snarled at him.

"Monk?" Miroku asked clearly confused.

"Why don't you just pull off a mattress from one of the beds on the bunk on the right side?" Kagome suggested.

Kouga took up Kagome's hands in his. "That's a brilliant idea, Kagome"

Kagome laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah, thanks. Glad I could be of service." She snuck a glance at Ayame and quickly averted her eyes back.

Inuyasha pulled Kagome's hands free and glared at Kouga. "C'mon, Wolf. Let's get you new sleeping area set up." With that, he pushed himself to his feet and headed toward the boys' cabin with Miroku following.

"Who died and made you king?" Kouga snarled at him.

"There's a new sheriff in town, boys! Y'all best get used to it." Inuyasha sarcastically remarked in his best southern impression. Kouga got up, muttered a few choice words, and followed after his cabin mates.

"Alright, everyone back to your cabins! You all need to take showers and change out of those wet clothes before you get sick." Midoriko instructed and walked away with the rest of the counselors back to the counselors' cabin.

"First one there showers first!" Sango shouted and raced towards their cabin. Kagome and Ayame screamed and ran to catch up with Sango who was already halfway there.

"First!" Sango declared as she hit the cabin door.

"Second!" shouted Ayame as she came up behind. Kagome stopped short of the door, knowing that she already lost. "Aww, too bad! Looks like you shower last, Kagome!"

Kagome just rolled her eyes and watched as her two friends entered the cabin. Before she entered the cabin, she looked over at the boys' cabin. Her eyes glazed up and over the area where the fire took place, trying to see if there was anything that caused the fire, but it was hard to see anything through the downpour. She shook her head and entered the cabin.

* * *

The minute the clock struck 8:00 a.m., the campers were ushered out of the mess hall to begin their daily activities. Though it had rained practically the entire day the day before, all the activities were still a go; including the scavenger hunt in the woods which Inuyasha and Kagome's groups were so lucky to have.

With all her might, Kagome yanked her trapped foot out of the mud only to fall back, catch herself with her other foot, and get that one caught as well. She groaned as Inuyasha laughed.

"Trust _you _to be outsmarted by overly hydrated dirt!" he teased. Kagome just growled. She refused to dignify his teasing with a response. Let him poke fun at her. It's not like he's trying to be mean, right? In fact, if she just simply ignored him, he would get tired of it eventually.

She finally managed to pull her foot free and practically hopped on each foot as she quickly made her way to the edge of the mud puddle. But as fate would have it, her foot got stuck again right on the very edge.

Inuyasha sighed and wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her out of the mud. He set her on the ground next to him.

"Now can we go meet with the others," he asked, "or are you going to get stuck again?"

Kagome clenched her teeth together. The whole 'ignoring his jibes' routine was easier said than done.

When both groups met up with the counselors, Kagome's jaw dropped at the sight of Ai. Ai still refused to wear shoes, even in mud so her feet were caked with the squashy brown stuff and a good three inches of the hem of her long skirt was covered in mud. Kagome shook her head. She couldn't imagine being so dirty like that and not even care.

Ai ran her fingers through her long, magenta hair and looked at each camper long and hard in the eye. "Before you left for breakfast, Ai told you that you were doing a scavenger hunt. Ai has the list of things to need right here. Each of you come grab one."

Kagome looked over the list once she was handed the sheet. It didn't look too hard. An acorn, a pinecone, a heart-shaped rock, a maple leaf…..you could find it all in the forest. She smiled slightly. This should be fun.

"There're 30 items you need. I'd suggest keeping them all in a bag. Oh, and the first team to get them all wins and you get to go to town for the rest of the day." Ai continued to inform.

The atmosphere got lighter when the campers found out what they could win. Town! Where there were shops, ice cream, and decent air conditioning! Everyone wanted this—everyone except for Kagome that is. A big win meant competition, competition meant that the teams would split up away from each other in hopes of finding the items before anyone else, and teams splitting up meant that Kagome would have to spend God knows how long alone with Inuyasha. And—because of Inuyasha's competitiveness—if they won, she'd have to spend the _rest _of the day alone with him. She was _not _prepared for that.

"Um, Ai," Kagome started. Ai turned her attention to the girl speaking. "Do the teams have to be the partners?"

Inuyasha's knitted his eyebrows together at the girl. _'What's she talking about? Does she not want to be with me? I thought we were friends?'_

Ai scratched her chin. "No I don't suppose so. Why do you ask, sister?"

Kagome shrugged. There was a loose piece of thread coming off her shorts. She wound the thread around the tip her finger until it turned purple. Once her finger began to throb, she yanked the thread off. "I guess I just want to hang with Sango for a bit."

Ai turned to Miroku. "Are you okay with this, Miroku?"

"Um," Miroku looked up at Inuyasha who was shooting him a 'What-the-hell-is-she-talking-about' look. Miroku widened his eyes, letting Inuyasha know that he had no idea what was going on.

Inuyasha turned away. "Keh, if she wants to be on a team with Sango let her be. I'd much rather be with Miroku anyways. He won't slow me down."

"Sorry." Kagome muttered. Inuyasha didn't say anything.

"So," Ai said, clapping her hands together. "Shall we get started?"

* * *

"Hey, any idea what a maple leaf looks like?" Miroku asked, inspecting the list. Inuyasha shrugged. "Have you seen a clover patch anywhere?" Miroku continued. Inuyasha just shrugged again. Miroku sighed. He stooped to the ground, picked up a small rock, stood up straight, and threw the rock. It hit Inuyasha right in the temple.

Inuyasha's hand flew to the abused area and growled at Miroku. "The hell was that for?!"

"Ever since we started this thing you've been sulking." Miroku chided.

Inuyasha crossed his arm across his chest and looked away. "I am not sulking!" Another sharp pain spiked in his temple and he whirled around to glare at Miroku who was tossing another rock in his hand.

"We can do this all day." Miroku warned.

Inuyasha scoffed and reached his hand up until it disappeared in the tree leaves above his head. He yanked his hand down and with it there was a leaf between his fingers. "You wanted a maple leaf, right? Here it is." Inuyasha tossed the leaf in Miroku's direction.

Miroku caught the leaf and looked up at Inuyasha. "You sure?" he asked.

"It's a maple leaf, believe me." Inuyasha assured, twitching his nose to accentuate.

"No, are you sure you don't want to talk about what happened."

Inuyasha turned away. "Nothing happened, therefore there's nothing to talk about."

"Did you say anything to upset her?" Miroku pressed.

"No! At least I don't think so." Inuyasha stated, his mind going back to where she was stuck in the mud.

"You don't think so?" Miroku repeated. "What did you do?"

"Okay, so outside the mess hall she got stuck in a mud puddle and I teased her about it. But it was light teasing! Nothing that she should fly off the handle about!"

"Did you help her out of the mud?" Miroku asked.

Inuyasha glared at him. "What do I look like, a boy scout?"

"_Did you or didn't you_?"

"Okay, I did! When it became evident that she wouldn't make it out anytime soon I helped her!" Inuyasha snapped.

Miroku scratched his chin, seeming to think deeply about something. "How did you touch her?"

Inuyasha answered with a growl followed by a hard knock to the head. "What makes you think I'd stoop to _your _level with _her_?"

"No, no! I meant when you helped her out of the mud! Did you grab her hand, her arm, what?"

Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. "I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her out of the mud. What's that got to do with anything?"

Miroku didn't answer. He was too deep in thought. Soon he broke out into a grin. "Inuyasha, I just had an epiphany!"

"Do you even know what that word means?"

"Do you?" Miroku challenged. Inuyasha didn't say anything. Miroku continued. "Remember when Kagome dragged you into the woods so you two could be adults and apologize to each other? When you came back, you were holding hands and that was the first time Kagome ignored you."

"So, what's your point?" Inuyasha asked. He acted like he wasn't curious, but in truth he was. He just wasn't sure what it was that made Kagome act the way she was acting.

"I think she gets like that every time you touch her." Miroku looked at Inuyasha with a sort of glint in his eye. "Inuyasha, looks like someone has a crush on you!"

Inuyasha's face turned red. From embarrassment or anger, he wasn't quite sure. But he was sure that Miroku was sorely mistaken. "Miroku, I think your way off the dot here!" he snapped.

Miroku widened his eyes. "Why? It seems plausible, doesn't it?"

Inuyasha shook his head frantically. "No, it doesn't! Do you honestly think that a girl whom I've been insulting to at the beginning of the summer would just forget something like that?"

Miroku's eyes softened a bit. "Kagome's forgiven you, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha glared at Miroku. "It doesn't matter whether she's forgiven me or not. She does _not _have a crush on me!" With that said Inuyasha stooped to the ground, picked up a small rock, and threw it at Miroku. Miroku saw the rock flying toward him and ducked. The rock hit a tree behind him with a light _thunk!_

Miroku's eyes widened at Inuyasha. "What the hell? Was that revenge?"

"No," Inuyasha said simply, turning away. "That's your stupid heart shaped rock." With that said Inuyasha turned on the heel of his shoe and stalked off into the woods.

Scene Change

Sometimes Kagome would entertain herself by climbing up tall trees. When she was a child, she spent all of her free time up in trees, calling down on whoever passed by, and occasionally throwing acorns at the people she didn't like. She climbed trees so much, that by the time she was 16, she was able to scurry up the trees very fast. The movement often reminded Sango of a squirrel. Only this time instead of staring in amazement at Kagome's squirrel-like ability, her mind was on something else. And Kagome was well aware of her friend's thoughts.

Kagome jumped to the ground after salvaging an acorn that still had its little cap on and handed it to Sango.

"Thanks." Sango said and crossed 'acorn—cap still attached' off the list. For the past 15 minutes, Sango had been working up her courage to ask Kagome about the partner-switch stunt she pulled. But every time she opened her mouth, her courage would disappear like cotton candy in a wet environment. But this time she vowed to herself that she would ask right…………_Now!_

However, Kagome sensed the tension coming off of Sango and turned to answer her without hearing the question. "If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."

Sango let out the air she took in as she prepared to ask her question in a large _puff!_ "Kagome, you know you'll have to tell me sooner or later." Kagome just shrugged and Sango huffed again only this time it was intentional. "Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone."

The corners of Kagome's mouth twitched at Sango's attempt to get her to spill what was on her mind. Though it was clever and it rhymed, Kagome didn't talk.

"Kagome, you won't feel any better until you get this thing off your chest. Now, tell me what's up."

Kagome's shoulders slumped and she exhaled slowly. She lifted her head slightly, but avoided Sango's eyes. "I don't know it's just that…it feels like every time he touches me I…I really don't know. It feels weird like I want him to touch me but at the same time I don't. And it's the same thing whenever we're alone. I feel like I want him there but I don't." Her eyes met Sango's. "Am I making any sense?"

Sango had wry grin on her lips. She understood perfectly. "Methinks the lady has a crush on Sir Jerk."

Kagome's face flared red and she smacked Sango on the arm. "I do _not _have a crush on him! If anything, the reason is because I still don't trust him fully enough not to be a jerk to me!"

"So then why were you two holding hands the other day? And not to mention you spilled your secret to him—and you weren't even friends yet!" Sango continued.

Kagome flinched at the word 'friends'. Is that the right word? For some reason, Kagome wasn't sure if the term described their relationship. Unfortunately, she didn't have the any idea as to what term did. She must have had a chagrined look on her face because Sango asked if something was wrong. "It's just that….I don't think that 'friends' is really the right word. And I'm not quite sure what is. Whatever it is, it feels sorta more like acquaintances but not really. It feels like more, but not a lot. Do you understand?"

This time around, Sango was lost completely. They were sorta acquaintances but not really? It's more than acquaintances but not a lot? What on Earth is she talking about? Sango gave up on figuring out what she said and waved the subject away. "C'mon. We need five more things before we're finished." Sango linked her arm through Kagome's and dragged her off farther into the woods.

Scene Change

"I still can't believe we've finished first!" Miroku exclaimed, clapping his hands together. And just as soon as it appeared, his smile vanished. "Although I feel like we cheated since you used your demon senses to track down the items."

Inuyasha scoffed. "Scavenger hunts are so that people can find items using their senses. I was using mine. Plus, that wolf and Ayame are demons. We didn't do anything wrong."

Miroku's smile returned when he processed this information. "And we get to spend the rest of the day in town! Movies! Ice cream! Air conditioning!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at his friend's childish antics and his thoughts turned to something else. To his chagrin, his thoughts landed on a subject he'd rather ignore. No matter how hard he tried, his mind wouldn't stray away from the topic it decided to settle on. For some reason, completely unknown to him, he enjoyed her company. He liked being around her. Maybe it's because she's a likeable person. Or maybe it's because they were friends.

Inuyasha shook his head. No, 'friends' didn't describe their relationship. And quite frankly, he didn't know what did. It sorta felt like acquaintances but not really, and a little more than acquaintances but not a lot. A sigh escaped his lips. He really didn't have any idea what he was talking about.

The two teens exited the woods and found their cabin in sight. Inuyasha scanned the area but neither Ai nor Mitsuya were in the area. He began to wonder why until he felt the full effects of the sun's heat on his skin. _'Stupid counselors. Bet they couldn't take the heat and escaped to their cabin WITH AIR CONDITIONING while we were our traipsing through the woods!' _He sighed and his eyes wandered up to the boys' cabin and fell on the right corner where the fire had started. His eyes trailed up the corner and fell on the ceiling. They narrowed as his vision caught something that he was certain wasn't there before. _'What is that?' _Curiosity overriding his common sense yet again, Inuyasha stepped closer to take a look.

"What is it?" Miroku asked when he realized that Inuyasha had found something.

Inuyasha looked up at the object wedged in to the joint where the ceiling meets the corner of the wall. "I think it's….a lightning rod.

As soon as the words left his lips, the entire world went black.

* * *

**Sorry you guys! I left a cliff hanger! And not a cliff hanger like I've left at the end of the first few chapters. This is a hardcore I'm-gonna-kill-you-unless-you-update-soon cliff hanger that we all hate. **

**So again, I will do my best to update soon.**

**I will also do my best to update soon for One Day, One Night and The Sould Binding Sword.**

**Until next time!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	7. The Aftermath

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry that this is so late! The Plot Bunnies just wouldn't come and I had to change so many things so there wouldn't be so many plot holes and it was just crazy! And yes I know that this si a very short chapter, but I'm leaving for vacation tomorow (Friday, July 31) and its 10:00 now and I still haven't packed anything and its just, argh! But I vowed that I would put this chapter out even though it isn't very long. **

**So, please enjoy Love Under a Bloodred Sky Chapter 7, The Aftermath!**

**Disclaimer:I don't own Inuyasha**

**Flames are welcome.**

* * *

_'I'm…….sleeping?' _was the first thought that came to Inuyasha when he came too. His eyelids slowly drifted open and he saw, not the white plaster ceiling of his cabin, but the beige-yellow ceiling of the infirmary. He was back in the infirmary.

Damn.

Luck was not on his side this summer, was it?

Inuyasha slowly sat up and felt a tugging on his right arm. He looked over and almost wished he hadn't when he saw that he was hooked up to an IV, clear liquid being held in the bag and spilling into his bloodstream. He mentally cursed. One trip to the infirmary—well actually _no _trips to the infirmary—was enough for him.

Inuyasha hooked his fingers around the IV tube and yanked it out. A slight hiss escaped his lips as the needle slid out of his arm. He pulled back the covers and swung his legs over the side as if waking up in the infirmary and yanking needles out of his skin was some sort of post-sleeping exercise. And as fate would have it, the exact moment he stood up, a nurse walked right through the door.

The nurse took one look and the standing Inuyasha and pushed him back onto the bed, reaching for the IV.

"Get off of me!" Inuyasha snarled at the nurse.

"I-I'm sorry Mr. Arishima, but the doctors would like to keep you here longer for observational purposes."

"Observe? What's to observe? I'm fine!"

The nurse successfully reattached the IV to Inuyasha and stood back. You and your friend, Mr. Ishida, were found unconscious just outside your cabin. You have a minor concussion. That's why we want to keep you here overnight."

"If its 'minor', then why do you need to observe me?" Inuyasha asked.

"Your head was bleeding." the nurse answered simply.

It was at that time that Inuyasha realized that there was a bandage around his head. He gently probed the bandage on a search to find the wounded spot. He flinched as his fingers grazed the sore area.

"Now proceeding to my original task," the nurse said as she walked over to the door. She opened it. "You can come see him now."

In that instant he knew that someone had come to see him and it was kind of a bittersweet feeling. He knew that Kagome would be frantic like she was the last time he was in the infirmary, but for some reason, he wanted to see her. The thought thoroughly confused him, but he just dismissed it as someone wanting to see a friend; which of course he did.

But instead of Kagome walking through the door, it was Ayame, Kouga, and—to his surprise—Kikyo that entered his room.

"Where're Miroku and the others?" Inuyasha asked, cleverly avoiding saying Kagome's name. He didn't want people to think he was sad that she didn't come see him. However he was a bit peeved that she didn't come see him. What was her problem today?

Kikyo was the one who answered. "Miroku is still unconscious and Kagome and Sango are still at town." She tilted her head to the side. "I doubt they even know you're here, considering the fact that Kagome wouldn't let herself within a ten-mile radius of the bus if she knew you were in the hospital again."

Inuyasha flinched slightly when she said hospital. But then a thought dawned on him. "Wait, 'still'?"

"You've been out most of the day. It's 6:30 right now. P.m. that is."

"So they must have been on the bus before we got knocked out." Inuyasha mused silently. A soft chuckle emitted from his throat. "And here I thought that Miroku and I were the first ones." He looked back up at Kikyo, slightly disturbed at how much she resembled Kagome. "You said that Miroku is still unconscious; besides that, how is he?"

"He's fine. His head was also bleeding but it wasn't as bad as yours so it was easy to fix up."

Inuyasha groaned and fell back onto the bed. "I wish I didn't have to stay here." he muttered.

Kouga grinned. "Looks like I'm getting the bed tonight!"

Inuyasha responded with a weak "Feh".

"Kikyo!" said whiny, high-pitched voice soon followed by tall, busty girl with platinum-blonde hair that looked too fake to be real. The girl grabbed Kikyo's arm with her ridiculously long nailed hand and tugged slightly. "Satsuki says that we can start free hour early and Kitty and I wanna go swimming!"

Kikyo rolled her eyes at the girl. "Let go of my arm, Ami."

Ami's attention was suddenly directed to Inuyasha and a grin broke out across her face. "Although, if you'd rather stay here with the cutie in the bed, I'd be more than happy to join you."

Kikyo wrenched her arm free and then grabbed Ami's hand and pulled her out the door, while Ami just waved at Inuyasha smiling flirtatiously. Inuyasha's nose wrinkled in disgust. He looked up at the ceiling and sighed. _'I hate it when girls fawn over me like that….'_

* * *

The pain that had once clouded Miroku's mind slowly started to ebb away and simultaneously his mind began to push back the heavy clouds of darkness and back into the realm of awareness. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up. Vaguely, was he aware of the figure sitting next to him.

"So you're up." said a voice. Miroku turned to his left and realized that the voice came from Sango's silhouette. "I was wondering how long it would be until all the drugs they gave you wore off."

Miroku let his eyes adjust to the darkness as he watched Sango stretch her arms over her head, arching her back in the process. Frankly, with the view of Sango's cleavage being thrust out, he rather enjoyed the view. However, his lascivious gaze did not go unnoticed by Sango and the angry teen cuffed him over the head.

"Ow." Miroku muttered, clutching his aching again head.

"Serves you right!" Sango snapped. "I cut my day at the town, complete with excitement, intrigue, and descent food short so I could come here and sit with _you_, and you repay me with your unwanted perverted personality!"

"Believe me, Sango, it couldn't have been helped! You thrust out your ample chest in such a way that no man could've ignored it!" This remark earned him another clout to the head.

"Pervert." Sango grumbled under her breath.

Miroku only laughed. "So, it turns out that you and Kagome were the first ones done with the scavenger hunt. How was town?"

Sango shrugged and ran her fingers through her hair. "Okay, I guess. We didn't do much mostly because there was nothing to do."

Miroku smiled. "I hope there is another chance to go to town. I wouldn't mind getting to see it."

"Well, let's hope that there are more things to do there when you do get the chance, otherwise Inuyasha might complain the entire time and you would have the odd sensation to drive a screw into you head."

Miroku shook his head. "Aw, Inuyasha would be complaining regardless if even a rollercoaster spontaneously showed up." The two shared a quick laugh and Miroku suddenly reached over and wrapped his hand around Sango's. "No, I'd rather much spend the time with you."

The breath in Sango's throat hitched even before Miroku said what he did. The simple feeling of someone other than herself or a friend or relative touch her hand sent shivers up and down her arm.

He was asking her out on a date. Why it was so hard for her to answer was unknown, even to her. Sango was definitely a pretty girl was not unpopular with the boys. On several occasions she had been asked out and, no matter how nice, smart, or attractive the guy was, he was always turned down instantly without a second thought. Since the beginning of her middle school years, Sango had had no interest in dating.

And for the first time in her life, she was hesitating on giving her answer.

And that scared her more than death itself.

* * *

The _beep—beep—beep _of the heart monitoring machine is what woke Inuyasha up. His hand moved to his eyes and he rubbed the cobwebs of sleep out of his eyes. He heard rustling of clothing and opened his eyes.

"Inuyasha?" said a familiar voice.

Inuyasha rolled over and caught the vague outline of Kagome's silhouette through the dark. "What time is it?" he mumbled.

"3:15 a.m." Kagome answered.

Inuyasha sat up. "You've been here all night?"

Kagome shrugged. "Sango too. She just stepped out to go see Miroku."

"How was town?"

Kagome shrugged. "It was okay. We arrived there at about noon time and wandered for about three hours until Ayame called, telling us about how they just found out that you and Miroku were in the infirmary and right after I called Grandma to make arrangements for another bus to come pick us up. However it takes about three hours for the buses to get to town so by the time the bus got there it was about six, and then with the three hours back to the camp, Sango and I arrived at about nine." She blew a stray piece of hair out of her face. "But, you were already asleep when we came in to see how you were doing."

"Sorry you had to leave early." Inuyasha said.

Kagome smiled. "Don't be. It wasn't really that interesting, anyways. I forgot my money so I couldn't go shopping, all the good movies were only being shown from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and I hate watching movies during the day, and the ice cream parlor was sold out of my favorite flavor." A slight pout registered on her lips at the last comment.

Inuyasha chuckled. "So it wasn't all that great, huh?" Kagome shook her head and laughed slightly.

They both stayed quiet for a while. The out of the blue, Inuyasha opened his mouth to say something that he never thought he would've asked. "What is your favorite ice cream flavor?"

Kagome was taken aback by his question. "Um, mint chocolate chip" she said after a pause.

"Really? I like plain chocolate." Inuyasha admitted. Kagome began giggling. "What's so funny?" Inuyasha demanded. He was sharing something with her! She shouldn't be laughing, dammit!

Kagome shook her head still giggling. "Nothing," she said, "it's just that chocolate is so boring! It's such a cliché!"

"So? It's a classic! I've never met anyone who doesn't like it." Inuyasha countered. "Unless you're telling me that you don't like it, Miss Mint Chocolate Chip!"

"Sango hates chocolate." Kagome said smugly. "And Ai doesn't eat sweets."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Crazy people."

"Okay, the next time you're in town, you have to get an ice cream flavor other than chocolate. And I have to be there with you so I know that you didn't cheat!"

Inuyasha smirked. "Fine; it's a date."

Kagome's eyes widened at what he said. _'Date?'_ Her pits began prickling with sweat and she hoped that her vanilla scented deodorant was up for the emergency.

The words finally sunk in and Inuyasha's face heated up. Hopefully, the darkness of the room would hide his blush. "N-no I….I didn't mean it, well, like that…." He trailed off.

"N-no, I….I didn't think you did." Kagome said, smiling weakly at him.

"Yeah, um, good….yeah that's good." Inuyasha responded lamely.

The two sat in and awkward silence, both of there faces flushed without any sign of fading anytime soon. After what seemed like hours, the door opened and Sango walked into the room.

"Oh, you're up." Sango said, looking at Inuyasha. "Nice to see you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Kagome said you went to go see Miroku; is he okay?" Inuyasha asked, with a slight hint of worry for his friend.

"He woke up when I entered the room and we talked for a bit. But then he managed to grope me so I'm sure he's going to be okay. I didn't hit him because he's already in the infirmary."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. _'Why am I not surprised?' _he thought, sarcastically.

Sango tilted her head to the side. "Did something happen between you two or did you just decide to paint your faces red?"

Realizing that she was talking about their flushed faces, and the fact that their blushes were distinguishable in the dark, the redness came back, full force.

"Nothing happened!" they both shouted at the same time.

Kagome got up from the chair next to Inuyasha's bed. "C-c'mon Sango! I'm tired and we should be going to bed now!" She turned to Inuyasha.

"What, so you mean you _haven't _been sleeping since you got here?" Sango teased, knowing fully well that Kagome had indeed been sleeping.

"Sh-shut up!" Kagome screeched. Sango just laughed and exited the room with Kagome right behind her. Before she left the room she turned around to Inuyasha. "Good night." That said, she turned around and left the room, eager to sleep in her bed.

Inuyasha stared at the empty doorway a while longer. Soon his eyes started to get heavy and he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

By the next morning, the doctors were comfortable with both Inuyasha and Miroku's condition and considered them to be 'stable' enough to be discharged. After they left the infirmary, being as it was currently 7:00 a.m. and the nurses didn't give them any food, they headed straight for the mess hall for breakfast.

"Stable my ass." Inuyasha muttered. "What do they think we are mentals at some friggn' asylum?"

"Can't talk," Miroku said in a monotone voice, "must eat food!" His statement was backed up by a rather loud growl, courtesy of his stomach.

"Relax, it's not like the mess hall is going anywhere."

"Yeah, but it's only open for an hour and we only have 55 minutes until it closes." He checked his watch. "54 minutes."

Inuyasha just rolled his eyes and continued to follow Miroku. However, no matter how hard he tried, his mind kept on wondering back to that morning just after he and Miroku exited the forest. He remembered looking up and seeing, a lightning rod was it? Yes, that was it; he saw a lightning rod. And if memory served, it was after that that he blacked out. But whether someone knocked Miroku and him out or if he was simply experiencing heat stroke and imagined the lightning rod before passing out. As he could recall, he and Miroku were quite thirsty coming out of the woods. The rational explanation would be the latter.

But things weren't exactly 'rational' around here.

_'Could someone really have….?' _Inuyasha dismissed the idea before it even finished in his head.

But…he still wanted to stop by the cabin, just to be sure.

He wasn't paranoid. He just wanted to make sure that there was no lightning rod attached to the roof. There is a difference.

Inuyasha was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he almost passed right by the cabin. "Wait, Miroku."

Miroku turned around. "What's up?"

"Before we passed out, I thought I saw a lightning rod on the roof of our cabin." Inuyasha said, walking up to the cabin.

"Uh, are you sure that you weren't just seeing things 'cuz of the heat?" Miroku asked a little doubtful.

"No, I 'aint sure, that's why I'm checking it out." Inuyasha looked up and his eyes squinted instinctively because of the sun. After a while the pain wasn't so bad and Inuyasha was able to open his eyes a little wider.

"Could you hurry it up a bit? The mess hall closes in 40 minutes!" Miroku whined.

Inuyasha ignored Miroku and looked up to where he remembered seeing the lightning rod.

Nothing was there.

"Huh." Inuyasha said and stepped away from the cabin.

"Anything there?" Miroku asked.

Inuyasha shook his head. "No. Must've been the heat making me see things." Although Inuyasha said this, part of him didn't really believe it. However it was a part of him that he rarely listened to so he just ignored it. Besides, he was hungry.

* * *

Kagome sighed contently as she bit into her sausage link. After she left Inuyasha the other night, the second she hit her bed she was out. She slept well, despite waking up at 3:00 in the morning, and the food was hot; let's just say she was having a good morning.

"Morning guys!" she chirped as Inuyasha and Miroku joined her, Sango, and Ayame at the table. "Are you feeling better?" Both boys mumbled yeses, much too preoccupied with the steaming food laid out in front of them. Kagome rolled her eyes.

Inuyasha's eyes casually drifted over to Sango's plate and he noticed that she had a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. "I didn't know that they served peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches at breakfast."

"Oh yeah. You can make yourself one if you don't like the food they have out. They're over there." Sango said, gesturing over to where several kids were in line to make sandwiches.

Inuyasha stared at the sandwich for a while before climbing out of the bench and standing in front of it. "I'm going to make one."

"Hmm?" Kagome asked.

"A peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich." Inuyasha repeated. "I've never made one before and I want to try it."

"You've never made one?" Ayame gawked.

"Shut-up! Anyway it can't be too hard." Inuyasha said, walking away to the stand.

The girls and Miroku chatted idly amongst themselves until Inuyasha came back. He dropped the plate on the table and growled. "I officially can't make a friggn' peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich." Everyone took one look at the 'sandwich' and burst out laughing. Inuyasha only growled which, strangely enough, sounded a lot like a dog.

"What did you _do _to it?!" Miroku asked in wide-eyed horror and began poking the shredded and mangled sandwich.

"Inuyasha," Kagome said still giggling. "This is what you do:" She picked up a butter knife and began sliding the head gently along her hand. "Not this:" She began lightly stabbing her hand with the knife. "_This_:" She repeated her first motion.

"Shut up," Inuyasha grumbled. He gathered what he could of the 'sandwich' and tried to eat it, yet soon gave up to just using a fork on account of the bread was falling apart and the jelly started dripping on his clothes. This only made the group laugh harder. "By the way, where's Kouga?"

"Why do you wanna know?" Sango asked.

"I don't, I'm just curious as to where he is." Inuyasha answered simply.

"And the difference is?" Ayame asked, a corner of her mouth twitching.

"You gonna tell me or what?" Inuyasha griped.

Kagome pointed her fork in the direction behind Inuyasha. "He's sitting with his friends, Ginta and Hakkaku."

Inuyasha turned around, and sure enough, Kouga was there surrounded by a small throng of people chanting "Chug, chug!" while he downed a glass of orange juice. "Oh," he said, turning back. "He has friends."

"Hey, _we're_ his friends too, you know!" Kagome said, wrapping her arms around Ayame and Sango. Inuyasha ignored her and took another bite of his 'sandwich'.

* * *

"Alright, in 3….2….1…..Time!" Ai announced and the teens stepped away from their towers.

It was the last activity of the day and it just so happened to be who could make the tallest tower out of thick slabs of plastic, and surprisingly, Inuyasha had fun. The feeling of being under pressure excited him and sent a burst of adrenaline throughout his body. Of course, the extra energy had caused him numerous times to accidentally knock his tower over, but he took pride in the fact that he wasn't the only one who had undergone that frustration.

The three boys and three girls stood next to their towers, panting. Whoever made the tallest tower got to sleep in an extra room in the counselors' cabin, complete with a soft, queen-sized be, mini fridge filled with sodas and snacks, and air conditioning. Inuyasha was pretty pumped up about the competition and was determined to win, but with five seconds left on the timer, he accidentally knocked his tower over and had no hope of winning the competition.

Ai readied the yardstick she brought with her and went around measuring the towers.

"Don't bother measuring mine." Inuyasha grumbled. "There's no way that I can win." He gestured to the pile of plastic. Ai complied and went on to measure Sango's tower.

"And the winner is…." Ai said after measuring everyone's tower, "Ayame!"

"Dammit!" Kouga shouted while Ayame jumped up and down, squealing. Inuyasha simply kicked whatever was left of his tower.

"Cheer up," Kagome said to Inuyasha as they started to head back to their cabins for free period. "Can't win them all."

"Yeah, yeah." Inuyasha simply replied.

"Oh, Ai suggests that you sleep well tonight!" Ai called after them. "All day tomorrow we will be learning about horses!"

Inuyasha stopped suddenly in his tracks. A cold chill started from the small of his back and slowly climbed up his spine to the nape of his neck. The only thing that Inuyasha could think about was a vivid, and rather frightening, memory about him and a horse.

Sango smacked him on the back. "Horses, huh? Should be fun!"

"Y-yeah," Inuyasha muttered. "Fun"

* * *

"Hey, Kagome," Sango said as she and Kagome crawled into bed.

"Yeah?" Kagome asked, looking up at the top bunk that Sango currently resided in.

Sango leaned over the top bunk railing and looked down at Kagome. "Miroku asked me out last night."

"What?" Kagome gasped and sat up. "What did you say?"

Sango shook her head. "I didn't answer. He asked the question and I just said that I had to go check on you and left him hanging."

"Is that why he was giving you the cold shoulder today?"

Sango shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe."

Silence passed between them. Kagome opened her mouth, first one to break it. "Do you like him?"

Again, Sango didn't answer.

* * *

**So what do you think? Please leave me a review, and I will give you a shout out in my next chapter!**

**This is very important! If you like this story, please let me know in a review! There have been times when I have been doubting this and have been thinking of pulling the plug or at least not adding all the awesome plot ideas that i have thought up, and I really don't want to do that!**

**Special Thanks to whoever reviewed my last chapter! **

**bingbangboom714**

**LoVe23**

**norainubuchai (PUMPS!)**

**Namike**

**DarkFaerieNyroc13 (PANTS! and did i spell ur user name right???)**

**Leafdream**

**Lurv you all! **

**Blessings!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	8. AUTHOR'S NOTE

**False alarm! This isn't a new chapter, just a simple author's note explaining a few things. I've added in on my usual author's note at the beginning that flames are welcome. I felt that it was just a pleasant reminder as apposed to that strong-worded practically insulting rant I had at the end on the last chapter. So that's also gone now. And in the 4th chapter where I have Inuyasha drop the 'F Bomb', I took that out too. This is supposed to be rated T!!! *slaps self***

**I blame YOU norainubuchai! *shakes fist***

**Yes, now, I also changed the ending for chapter 5. Do you remember that Gawd awful ending? Let me remind you: "The two shared a laugh as they made their way back to their groups, neither one of them noticing that their fingers were still interlaced." I'm sorry, but that is just an awful ending that I hate so much. So I chopped it off. Now it ends after this line: "With one shake of the hand, the two sealed their new found friendship." Not one of my better endings but its better then my last one. And I also changed the ending reference in the next chapter, chapter 6 after Sango suggests that they go visit the boys.**

**So those are my changes and this was my author's note explaining all. Don't worry; I've got most of the next chapter written out and I know what I want to do with it.**

**Luv you all!!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	9. Just Too Easy

**Hey! I finally got the next chapter up! Yay!! *dances***

**We-ell that certainly took a very long time, didn't it? Well, I do apologize. Since I got the last chapter out, my life hasn't been very stable, so to speak......**

**So it all started when I began falling behind on my work for Honors English. I was getting very stressed, I didn't understand what the teacher wanted me to do, it was very late and I still had notes to finish for history class the next morning and I had forgotten the book, and it was all just too much. So I cried. I broke down, became the little girl I sometimes wish I was again, and cried. I didn't know what else to do so I did the only thing I could do. I became a child.**

**After that, it became okay again for a while. I was okay w/ all of my work and life was great, except for the fact that every time I tried to write this chapter my mind would freeze up and I couldn't write anything. So that really sucked. And then my brother injured his neck during a football game and had to be rushed to the hospital. *crosses self* thank God he was okay. It wasn't very serious but he had to wear a neck brace for the rest of the night. And not two weeks after, he injures his shoulder and couldn't play for the rest of the season!**

**Again, after that, things got okay for a while, but I still couldn't write.**

**And it was actually the entire month of November that was just....well screwed up would be mild. In the middle of the month...well...a well-known and loved student of the school had decided to take his life. I didn't know him, but it still affected me. Adonte Brown was his name. He was a close friend of my brother and two of my friends. I saw my friend Kat in the front of the building and it was all she could do to not cry. Rowan on the other hand, well, she was gone for half of the next day in the counselor's office. She was pretty affected by it; we all were. I don't think any of us have fully recovered from it yet......**

**And if that isn't enough to take away the will of writting from a girl, a teacher that was filling in for my art teacher while she was dealing with chemo therapy had suddenly told us that he was leaving. He never said why. I think it was becasue he was let go becasue he taught art differently and didn't exactly follow the "rules" if you will. The day after Adonte's death was his last day. The aftermath of what happened the day before was mixed with having to say goodbye to a teacher I've grown really close with and really liked was just too much. I could barely tell him goodbye at the end of the day because I feared that if I tried to say anything I would cry.**

**We have a new teacher now. She's nice so I like her.**

**But today, Sunday, November 29th, I just had the surge to write. So I opened this up and the words just began to flow and when I ended it, it felt right. This isn't one of my better chapters, but since I was able to get it out despite what happened, I'm very proud of this chapter.**

**So, please, enjoy Love Under a Bloodrd Sky Chapter 8: Just Too Easy.**

******Disclaimer: I do not own or make money off of Inuyasha. This was made purely for fans by a fan. It is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed by or affiliated by Rumiko Takahashi or Viz Media, or any other affiliates.**

**Flames are welcome.**

* * *

_**IN LOVING MEMORY OF ADONTE BROWN, I DEDICATE THIS CHAPTER TO YOU. MAY THE GOLDEN DOORS OF HEAVEN OPEN FOR YOU AND THE LOVING HAND OF THE LORD RECIEVE YOU.**_

**_YOU SHALL NOT NOW, NOR EVER BE FORGOTTEN._**

Camp Story: Chapter 8

_"Inuyasha!"_

_The young boy turned around and his eyes went wide. "Mommy!" he shouted._

Inuyasha bolted up in his bed, eyes wide and covered in sweat. The sudden head rush caused him to reach his arm out, seeking support.

"Bout time you got up," said a voice. Inuyasha looked over at Kouga who was gathering his long hair back in a pony tail. "You do realize that breakfast is in five minutes and Ai is coming over in two?"

"What?!" Inuyasha shouted. "Miroku, why didn't you wake me up?!"

"I tried to, Inuyasha, but you were off in dreamland." Miroku replied nonchalantly.

_'More like nightmare land.' _Inuyasha mentally corrected. At this mention, his traitor of a brain reeled back to the actual memory of which the nightmare came from. He frowned inwardly. That memory was one among the many that contributed to the traumatizing childhood that _no one _deserved to have. Not the creepy weird kid, not the popular girl that everyone loved to hate, not even the school bully. It was too much for anyone to handle, and more then enough to do serious damage to ones heart, mind, and soul.

It was a wonder that he was completely fine. Well, almost.

And since that memory would be fresh in his mind, the day was not going to go well.

And since that memory had to do with what they were doing today….

Let's just say that today wasn't going to go well _at all_.

"Uh-oh, better hurry, Inuyasha," Miroku said. "I think I just heard the girls' cabin door slam shut."

Inuyasha swore under his breath and leaped from his bunk and made a beeline for the closets.

Ai burst into the cabin without knocking and scanned the area with her dark eyes. She licked her lips. "He's got five minutes." she said and shut the door. Inuyasha came out in three.

*** * ***

Uncomfortable would not be the word to describe the bus ride up to the horse ranch. Actually, the phrase straight up awkward was more like it. Sango still hadn't given Miroku an answer to his question and whenever Inuyasha and Kagome locked eyes with each other for more than five seconds, memories of the night in the infirmary would come flooding back and their heads would snap to the side. And since neither Ayame nor Kouga seemed to notice this, the fact that they kept on trying to start a conversation with everyone made it even more awkward.

Soon the bus slowed to a stop and Ai stood up in the front of the bus.

"Okay, now remember, there are only two rules upon entering the ranch: You do everything that the head wrangler says, and don't make him angry." Ai looked directly at Inuyasha when she said the last part. Inuyasha pretended not to know what she was talking about.

"Alright; so now you know all the rules, time to meet Oushi."

While everyone else got out of their seats, Inuyasha and Miroku stayed put in theirs, wondering if Oushi was just a nickname.

*** * ***

"I don't like the looks of this guy," Inuyasha mumbled to Miroku when they entered the ranch.

"What's wrong with him?" Miroku asked. It's not like he's going to pound you into the dirt if you look at him wrong."

"They call him Oushi. Oushi! They call him a freaking' bull! What the hell do you think that means?!" Inuyasha hissed.

Miroku shrugged. "Maybe he has a strong constitution?"

When they got to the corral, Oushi was there to meet them. He tipped his hat at the girls. "Mornin' ladies." he said in a deep, husky voice.

"Good morning, Oushi." they responded and filed into the corral.

Oushi slapped Kouga once on the back and grunted a greeting before stopping with a stoic look in front of Inuyasha and Miroku. "So which one are you?" he asked.

"What?" Miroku asked.

"Ms. Midoriko said that there was going to be a juvie in the 15 through 17 year-old group. I take it you're him?" he said, looking right at Inuyasha.

"Why do you automatically expect the juvie to be me?" Inuyasha remarked sourly, not like being reminded of his current state.

"Cuz you look like the type who'd do stupid things."

Inuyasha scowled. He did not like Oushi one bit.

"Um, why don't we go now, Inuyasha? You know how Ai gets when she catches us dawdling." Miroku said in an attempt at avoiding a fight.

Oushi's attention snapped to Miroku. "So then who are you? You new here?"

"Um, yeah, in a way." Miroku laughed nervously. Maybe Inuyasha was right about him…

"In a way? In what way?" Oushi pressed.

Oushi had leaned forward a bit, causing Miroku to lean back.

"I'm just here for as long as Inuyasha is. An escort, if you will."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at that. It was as if he were a child, not being able to take care of himself. "Escort my ass." he muttered.

"You know Sesshomaru will say the same thing," Miroku responded silently.

Seeming to be satisfied with the answers he as given, Oushi stepped aside to allow access to the corral. Inuyasha and Miroku hurried passed the gate. Oushi closed the gate and pulled the red bandana around his neck over his mouth and nose. "So here's what'cha gonna do first: y'all will find a horse that ya like and mount it. Second thing y'all are gonna do is stay seated in your horse and wait for further instructions." As soon as Oushi stopped talking, the campers fanned out to find a horse.

Inuyasha approached a Dapple Gray horse, but the horse snorted and backed away. Confused, Inuyasha stopped. The Dapple Gray whinnied and shook her head wildly. _'Guess she doesn't like me,' _Inuyasha thought and headed off to another horse. But every single horse he approached backed away and whinnied at him; the Palomino, the Draft, the Paint—everyone!

_'Dammit! What's wrong with all these horses?!'_

Kagome began walking towards Inuyasha atop her white mare Ageha. "Something wrong, Inuyasha?" She moved closer but Ageha suddenly stopped as she got closer. "Huh? Ageha, what's wrong? Go forward." Kagome urged Ageha closer but Ageha wouldn't budge.

Finally, Kagome got fed up with Ageha's attitude. "Ageha," she began, "move forward!" That said, Kagome dug her heel into the mare's side and Ageha reared up. Kagome held fast to Ageha's neck, eyes wide, as she fought to stay on top of her horse. Ageha whinnied and snorted before hitting the ground with a thud and backing away from Inuyasha.

Before either of them knew it, Oushi was next to them, panting. "What the devil is goin' on here!?" he snapped. He reared on Inuyasha. "What're you doin' scarin' my horse for?!"

"Why do you automatically think it's _my _fault?!" Inuyasha defended.

"Cuz Miss Kagome's been ridin' Ageha since she was just a youn'un, so I know it wasn't her fault!"

"Well maybe it was some_thing _not some_one _that spooked the horse!"

"Is that really what you think? Don't you lie, boy; I saw every horse back away from you! It was like each of them was scared of you!"

"Why the hell would they….oh." It dawned on him; why the horses treated him as if her were a threat. It's because I _is _a threat. _'I'm a half-demon. That's why they're scared.'_

"Is something wrong?" Ai asked as she glided up, her feet covered in dirt, gunk, and other unmentionables.

"This little delinquent here's scarin' my horses!" Oushi practically snapped.

"I told you," Inuyasha growled, "that it wasn't my fault!"

Ai popped her gum and looked from Inuyasha to Oushi and back again. "Oushi," she said in her smooth, laid back voice. "Isn't there a delinquent horse that might connect well with Inuyasha?"

"I'm not a delinquent!" Inuyasha shouted.

"You don't mean ol' Tin Lizzy, do ya?" When Ai only responded with a small, closed mouth smile, Oushi's face and neck drained of its color. "Ai, that horse is harder to tame then the devil himself!"

Inuyasha's face went even whiter, if possible. "What the hell?! I'm _not _taking some devil-horse!" _'I'm already agreeing to come into this hell-hole of beasts, what more do you want!?'_

Ai continued as if Inuyasha hadn't said anything. "Tin shouldn't be as easy to scare. She's a fighter. Give her to Inuyasha."

Ai's voice was so commanding Oushi left without an argument. However, he left Inuyasha with an anxious look about his face.

A minute later—though it felt like an eternity to Inuyasha—Oushi returned with a nervous face and a large, black horse in hand. Oushi stopped the horse known as Tin Lizzy in front of Inuyasha.

Tin Lizzy stared down at Inuyasha with dark eyes, almost sizing him up. She leaned her head forward and snorted right in Inuyasha's face and lifted her lips and bared her teeth at him. Inuyasha didn't have to be a horse expert to know that Tin Lizzy was not in a happy mood.

"Ai, a-are you sure that this is a good idea?" Mitsuya said, mysteriously appearing at his co-worker's side.

Ai turned her steely grey eyes to Mitsuya and said: "Are you questioning my decision?"

Mitsuya shrunk back a bit. "N-no, I was just…just…" He didn't finish his sentence; just walked away. A small smirk played on Ai's lips. Oh how she loved to make him squirm…..

What happened next was something that no one expected. At one minute everything was calm and peaceful, and the next everything was havoc. Horses were rearing up, snorting, whinnying, and going crazy. Ageha reared up and tossed Kagome off. Inuyasha's eyes widened and his throat closed up as another horse reared up right behind her….

"Kagome!"

_"Mommy, I don't think I want to ride a horse," Inuyasha said as he was placed in the high saddle._

_Izayoi just smiled sweetly at him. "It'll be fine, Inuyasha. The horse won't hurt you. They're very well trained." She ruffled her son's hair. _

_Inuyasha smiled at his mother. Maybe he would be able to do this…._

_A loud shot rang out in the air and what happened next almost went by in a blur. The horses went crazy._

_The horse that Inuyasha was on reared up and Inuyasha fell off and landed hard on his arm. He cried out in pain._

_"Inuyasha!" Izayoi practically shrieked. _

_Pain was ripping through Inuyasha's body but he couldn't focus on that now. His young pup instinct was kicking in and he had to protect his mother. He jumped up and turned to his mother, fangs bared and ready to protect her from anything that tried to harm her._

_Izayoi's eyes widened. _'Oh no…' _she thought. "Inuyasha!"_

_Inuyasha turned around, claws ready to attack whatever was behind him. His eyes went wide. The horse behind him had reared up and was about to slam back to the ground right on top of him. "Mommy!" he cried._

_In a flash, Izayoi had shoved Inuyasha out of the way. Inuyasha hit the ground and watched in horror as the horse came down on his mother….._

Inuyasha's feet were glued to the ground. He wanted to move….he _had _to move….but his feet stayed cemented to the ground.

Kagome's eyes widened when she caught sight of the horse above her. Her mouth opened and she screamed for only a second before she felt strong arms around her. She heard a grunt as whoever had thrown him self over her was struck with the horse's hooves.

And suddenly, everything was silent.

Kouga let go of Kagome to check the wound that had opened on his shoulder from the horse's hooves. "Are you okay?" he asked as he helped Kagome to her feet. Kagome only nodded, shocked.

Inuyasha could only stare, open mouthed as Kouga saved Kagome. Although everything happened so fast, it felt like a life time for Inuyasha; and it was more than enough time to feel, and name every emotion that flooded through him: fear, pain, anger, desperation, and more. That is, all except one.

The last emotion hadn't occurred until the end when everything had returned to its normal pace. A name for it popped into his head, but that single name brought on even more fear, and not for Kagome's safety.

"Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha stiffened at the voice. It belonged to Kagome's. He didn't want to look at her. In a way, he felt as if he had let her down and didn't have the courage to look her in the eye; he wasn't quite sure what he would find swirling in them.

His jaw clenched and his hands shook slightly. "Th-this is why I hate horses!" he exploded. He spun quickly around on his heel and glared daggers at Oushi, although he knew that fear was evident in his eyes. "I don't care what damn activity you do now, I don't want to be apart of it!" Without even waiting for an answer, he stormed passed everyone and exited the corral.

The way he acted, with such anger and fear, froze everybody. Nobody followed him.

*** * ***

Apart from the gentle swishing of the water, the world was silent. As if in a trance, Kagome moved the oar strategically through the crystalline surface of the river. Behind her sat Kikyo whose hand at rowing was a little less sophisticated, and a lot more ragged.

"You know," Kikyo said after a while. "There _are _some people who are afraid of horses."

"Yeah, I know," Kagome responded. "It's just that I've never met someone with a severe fear of them. You wouldn't expect it from looking at him."

"You wouldn't expect a lot of things by looking at him." Kikyo said with a distant look on her face. "The only exception is the fact that it looks like he has a stick up his ass, when he does."

The corner of Kagome's mouth quivered. "Yeah, it does look like that, doesn't it?"

The assorted notes of Kagome's cell phone ringing pierced through the silence. Kagome set her oar down and reached into her pocket. "Hey, Grandma." There was a pause as Kagome listened, her eyes growing wider every second. "What? Really? Y-yeah…okay…okay…10 minutes? Okay. Bye." The call ended and Kagome took a shuddering breath. Finally, she looked up with fearful eyes into Kikyo's confused ones. "Um…we need to go back to the camp. Grandma wants to hold a meeting with all the counselors and older campers."

"Why?" Kikyo asked.

Kagome shook her head. "I…I should let Grandma tell you."

*** * ***

After receiving the text message from Kagome, Sango quickened her pace to a fast walk. _'Oh what a fine time for an emergency!' _Sango thought bitterly whilst maneuvering her way around the obstacles littering the trail she had been hiking on.

As the time passed, and Sango's pace slowed down a bit to conserve energy, she let her mind wander.

_'Kagome said that Midoriko wanted even the older campers to be at this meeting. When I asked Kagome about it she didn't respond. I wonder what this whole thing is about.'_

The though of all the older campers instantly pulled her thoughts toward a certain boy. Sango's face heated instantly at the thought of Miroku. What's more was that during the whole trip up to the ranch and the time spent their, she caught him several times looking at her. She tried to brush it off as him just thinking perverted thoughts, but she knew that wasn't true. He wasn't looking at her with a lecherous smirk, it was more like he was waiting; expecting something from her.

Sango sighed. Who was she kidding? He was waiting for an answer to his question, the one asked two nights ago.

_"Aw, Inuyasha would be complaining regardless if even a rollercoaster spontaneously showed up."_ _Miroku suddenly reached over and wrapped his hand around Sango's. "No, I'd rather much spend the time with you."_

He said he wanted to spend his time at town with her. He had asked her out on a date. He had asked her a question she didn't know the answer to, and was scared to find out.

*** * ***

Inuyasha's eyes scanned the room full of counselors and 15 through 17 year olds, searching for a face he recognized. He skipped right over Ai and Mitsu and settled his gaze on Kikyou.

Kikyou locked her cool brown eyes with his dark, violet ones and smiled, beckoning him over. A quick check behind him to make sure she wasn't looking at someone else and he headed over to the couch she was sitting on. He hesitantly settled himself on the floor by the couch.

"Hey, how're you feeling? How's your head?" Kikyou asked.

"Um," Inuyasha said nervously. "It's still attached to my shoulders." Kikyou laughed and Inuyasha tensed up a bit. This was the first time that he had been with Kikyou with out someone else around, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't a bit uncomfortable. He had never actually spoken to Kikyou directly before and how she was treating him as if they'd been friends for a while was just a bit weird. _'Must be because Kagome's my friend,'_

"You are really funny, you know that?" she said. Inuyasha just shrugged. An awkward silence passed and Inuyasha was silently begging any one that he knew would come over and relieve the tension.

His wish was granted.

On the other end of the room, he saw Miroku enter with Kouga and Ayame. The group quickly spotted him and Kikyou and they headed over to them. Ayame and Kouga sat on the couch next to Kikyou while Miroku took the space on the floor next to Inuyasha. After a little longer Sango entered the room and sat on the arm of the couch next to Kikyou, deliberately avoiding sitting near Miroku. "Where's Kagome?" she asked Kikyou.

Kikyou shrugged. "After we docked the canoe, she took off someplace."

"I'm here!" Kagome piped up from behind the couch. She climbed over the back and settled down next to Kouga. Kouga stretched his arms and 'conveniently' rested his arm around Kagome. Ayame pretended not to notice, Kagome shifted uncomfortably, and Inuyasha, who had turned around at the sound of her voice, turned away.

Soon, Midoriko stood at the front of the room and all the idle chatter died down. If there was one word to describe how she looked at the moment, nervous would be a complete understatement. "By now, all of you should know about the recent uprising of a serial killer in a city nearby," she paused to let the wave of nervous talk pass over. "A-and I'm afraid that the killer has attacked even closer to the camp." Gasps could be heard all over the room. "I have already contacted all of the campers' parents or guardians. Many have decided to withdraw their children. The others…the others are still deciding. However, I fear that the camp will have to soon close its doors."

"No," Kagome whispered. The camp couldn't shut down; it was way too important to her. After the murder of her parents, her grandmother and the camp was the only thing that could keep her mind clear and tied down to the earth. Images started to creep their way into her minds eye and she shut her eyes tight. But that only succeeded in more images washing over her. She whimpered.

Soon, Midoriko dismissed the counselors and teens and they all exited the building. Kagome lagged behind. Sango noticed her friend's distress and wrapped her arm around Kagome's shoulder, moving her hand up and down her friends arm in order to calm her down. Kagome relaxed a little.

"They can't do it Sango," Kagome whispered, "they can't shut down the camp. What will I do?"

"I know, Kagome. It'll be alright. Don't worry." Sango responded.

"How can you say that? He's moving closer. Soon the parents will withdraw all of their children and the police will force us to shut down."

Sango opened her mouth to say something, but closed it. What could she say? Kagome was pretty much right when it came to the camp being shut down. She glanced up ahead and caught the sight of their scowling long-haired friend; their scowling long-haired _rich_ friend. Suddenly a whole new meaning to the term 'friends with benefits' came to mind. "Hey," Sango said, cracking a smile, "maybe we can bully Inuyasha into getting Sesshomaru to force the feds to keep the camp open!"

"This isn't funny, Sango." Kagome said, clearly not amused at Sango's attempt at making light of the situation.

Sango rubbed the back of her neck. "You're right, Kagome, I'm sorry."

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at the two girls lagging behind. Kagome was sad; he could tell. For some reason unknown to him, he didn't like it when she wasn't smiled. He didn't know why, but he liked her smile. Maybe it was because after what he'd been through, it was a sort of relief to see a kind smile, an honest smile. So he stopped and waited for them to catch up.

"You shouldn't worry so much about that bastard," he said once Kagome and Sango had come closer.

"By bastard I assume you mean the one with a trigger-happy hand and not the one surrounded by girls?" Sango said, leering over at Miroku who was flanked by two tall girls. How he was able to flirt with both girls at the same time without the other one knowing was a complete mystery to her.

"No, I mean the bastard that is threatening to take away all the fluffy bunnies' carrots," Inuyasha said with a roll of his violet-black eyes. "Of course I mean that murderer!" A corner of Kagome's mouth quirked at his sarcasm and his pride couldn't help but swell up at the fact that she thought what he said was funny. "Anyways, I'm sure that he will stay away from this camp because pretty much all of Japan knows that Inuyasha Arishima, brother of Sesshomaru Arishima, owner of Arishima Military Warfare Inc. is at this camp and unless he wants the S.W.A.T. team from Japan and every other of the major world nations on his ass, he won't come near here."

Kagome smiled at this. Although what he said was rather arrogant on his part, his intentions were sweet. "You're right," she said, "we'll be fine."

"Arishima!" a voice called. Said teen turned around to the counselor who called his name. "Phone call! Get over here!" Without so much as a goodbye, Inuyasha left Kagome and Sango and headed back to the counselor's building.

"Can you believe that guy?" Sango growled when she caught sight of Miroku with two completely different girls. "He asks me out, and yet he's letting every other girl in this camp plaster themselves to him like a towel!"

Kagome glanced over at her long-time friend. "Jealous?" she asked nonchalantly.

Sango's face heated. "N-no! You'd only be jealous if you liked the guy and if I liked him then I would've accepted his offer." The statement felt wrong coming from her mouth but for the moment she ignored it. She was way too flushed at the moment.

"You mean you rejected him?" Kagome asked with wide eyes. She was so sure Sango would accept.

"Yes! Well, sorta," Sango muttered.

"'Sorta'? What do you mean 'sorta'?"

"Well, I kinda haven't told him yet," she trailed off.

"Oh Sango! You can't keep him waiting this long if you're just going to reject him! That isn't fair to him!"

Sango sighed. "You're right, but, I don't know how to tell him."

Kagome rolled her eyes and stepped in front of Sango, forcing her to stop. "You just do this Sango: you look him in the eye and say 'Miroku, I'm flattered that you asked my out although I'm afraid that I must say no.'"

Sango tilted her head to the side, an amused look on her face. "Is that what you say to Hojo every time he asks you out?"

"That is a completely different situation and thus requires a different response." Kagome said flatly. "The guy's too dense to understand that I am not interested."

The conversation ended when the phone in Sango's pocket buzzed. She pulled it out and her eyes went wide at the number being displayed. Quick as a wit, she pressed the phone to her ear. "Did you find anything?" she cried, not caring if the people on the other end could hear the eagerness in her voice. As she listened to the person on the other end her eyes focused on a rock on the ground. She stared at that same rock until her vision blurred and the rock looked nothing more than a gray blob. Finally she sighed and snapped her phone shut. Kagome was waiting expectantly.

"Well?" she prompted.

"They have a new lead but they still haven't—" she stopped when Inuyasha approached again, muttering something about a sister needing to lower the decibel count on her voice. "I'll tell you later," she said and moved away in the direction of her cabin.

Inuyasha looked confused. "Did I do something?"

Kagome shook her head. "No, you didn't do anything. By the way," she looked up at him, "who was on the phone?"

"Sesshomaru."

"Oh yeah? About what?"

"Oh, nothing really." Inuyasha said a bit nervously. Kagome raised a brow at his answer. "Really, it's nothing. Somehow Rin got a hold of the phone and started jabbering away about how it wasn't safe here and that I needed to come home and blah blah blah."

Kagome smiled. "How nice. Your sister must really care about you, huh?"

Inuyasha was a bit startled. "I guess so," he said, "I'm not so used to people worrying or caring about me since…" he looked away. He didn't need to finish the sentence. Kagome knew what he meant.

She gave him a soft smile. "You know, I was able to get our schedule changed so we don't have to go back to the corral.

Inuyasha looked away so she wouldn't see the slight relief in his eyes. "Keh, whatever."

Suddenly Kagome yanked the collar of his tee shirt and he stumbled back. Kagome took off running. "Race you to the cabin!" she yelled.

Inuyasha stared at her retreating for stunned. When he got over his shock, a determined grin appeared and he raced after her.

Kagome looked over her shoulder and yelped when she saw he was not far behind. She pushed herself to go faster. Inuyasha caught up with her easily and soon enough passed her.

"Hey!" Kagome said in mock annoyance.

Inuyasha slammed into the side of the cabin. He turned around and flashed Kagome a cocky smirk. "Since I won, you've gotta go get my food tonight at dinner!"

Kagome slowed to a walk after he won. "Yeah, yeah, you spoiled little rich boy!" She stepped up to the cabin door. "C'mon let's play speed or something," she said and disappeared into the cabin.

*** * ***

It was easy. Really, just too easy. If he had a curled mustache, he'd be twisting it right now. In the beginning, he'd just planned on hitting each city until he found _her_, but finding out that _he_ was someplace nearby was just a pleasant treat. Yes, _he _would be much better. Of course, if he just happened to come across _her _soon it would just add to the sweetness of it all. But since _he _was in his range…well, one would easily give away a pair of ruby slippers for a nice gold pair if given the chance, wouldn't they?

He grinned. _'Oh this is just too easy!'_

Oushi--Bull

* * *

**Well, that is the end of that chapter. Hopefully I can write the next chapter without any disruptions.**

**Thank you all for your wonderfull support. This story really wouldn't be anything without all of you.**

**Special Thank to all who reviewed my last chapter:**

**Namike** **(thank you for the your kind response to my note!)**

**DarkFaerieNyroc13 (soooo......what's up w/ you?)**

**norainubuchai (y'know what? Methinks ima gonna thank you for reviewing my author's note!)**

**TheGirlWhoSuffersAlivingHell (your review was another thing that motivated me to get this out. take care!)**

**LoVe23 (hey, i have the next chapter to The Soul Binding Sword all done and complete. do u want me to post it?)**

**Mika (oh i do have a sequal to If It Kills Me, just incase you didn't already know. it's called Denied Me, Betrayed Me.)**

**Thank you all again! **

**Until next time!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	10. A Protector?

**Hello! Miss Saigon11 here, bringing you Love Under a Bloodred Sky Chapter 9: A Protector? !**

**Lol, I'm just thinking back to my last author's note when I said that I hoped that I could write this chapter without any distractions....Funny how life works, yeah?**

***sighs* I kinda feel bad about dumping all my problems onto y'all whom I don't even know...but it's nice to let it out**

**Sometimes I have confidence issues. Normally I'm very outgoing and happy, but then there's that one moment when I feel completely worthless and can't do anything right and everything just seemed to go wrong. I didn't know if it was because I truly disliked myself, or it was something deeper than that. And just recently, I finally figured out what it was. And what's so crazy is that the problem began from back in second grade! I'm in highschool now! **

**So it all started last Sunday when I was at racquetball practice. We were doing running drills and I was the last to finish. My friend Kat started cheering for me and that made me feel really angry for some reason. I didn't want her to cheer. And suddenly I started thinking about a friendship I had with someone from second grade. It was a really bad relationship, and I just now figured that out. I had no idea just how much she hurt me. I never got to play with the better things at her house b/c she told me that they were special to her and I never got to play with the better things at my house b/c she said that she was the guest and the guest comes first. I was raised to respect things like that so I let it slide. But I didn't realize that she was slowly making me think that I was less than deserving. And it's almost like she was controlling my life too. In second grade I met Alexid, someone who has since then been my best friend, but I could never play with her outside because I had to play with my other friend or else she would get mad at me. I could only play with Alexis on days it was raining and we had to play inside. (Me and my other friend had different classes). When I finally broke away from playing with her all the time and went to play with Alexis in about thrid grade, my other friend would often come over to me and start nagging about how much her feelings were hurt and that it was completely unfair that I was ignoring her. _She _was the one acting like the victim and making _me _the bad guy. But not only was she controlling who I hung out with, but she also controlled the things that I could buy. I remember this one time when she had gotten a Bratz doll, the on named Yasmin, and it became her favorite. I also liked her too, but I knew that if I expressed any liking in the doll that she would get mad. So I tried to compromise with her; I said 'how about I don't get the doll, and get the make-up head instead?" (the make up head was where you would just get an oversized head of the doll and you could play with her hair and put make up on her) but she said "Do not get Yasmin! I won't let you get Yasmin!" And when I finally did get a Bratz doll, a pretty red headed one named Megan, I showed it to my friend and she said that she looked weird. She always got the better things and wouldn't be happy unless I got the second best. She would whine unless things went her way, made me feel like the mean on in the relationship, have everything amazing happen to her and absolutly nothing happen to me in any game we played, so she subconciously made me believe that I never deserved anything, that I was always ment to have what nobody else had. Once 5th grade started, we barely saw eachother any more because everytime she invited me over I would refeuse. I just wanted to break away from the suffocating leash she had on me. **

**Since that time, I've barely even been able to look at her when we pass each other in the hall.**

**I spent the entire hour and 30 minutes figuring this out and when I did, it hurt so much that I started to cry. I just couldn't believe it. Did she only see me as a toy that she and she only could play with? Or was I just someone she stuck next to her to tell her how much she was amazing and wonderful and take all the put downs just so she could feel better about herself?**

**Did she even think of me as a human?**

**This realization was just so hard to wrap my mind around it. How could I have not realized it while it was going on? Why did I let myself be manipulated and walked on? I was still a kid, dammit! That doesn't happen to you when you're a kid! That happens to you when you're in middle school and old enough to realize it before it damages you! Was it because I wanted to be liked? I wanted to be accepted? I was always a sort of oddball.....**

**Y'know what? My parents were right: they warned me about her but I didn't listen. They didn't like her at all and I didn't listen. They saw what was going on. They knew what was happening. But they didn't say anything because she was my friend and they knew, and so do I now, that even if they tried to tell me, I wouldn't believe them.**

***sighs* But I'm better now. I'm still not good with people, but lately I've been thinking about talking to my crush more and when I find out if he's dating anybody or not I was going to ask him out. Sometimes I feel like he's way out of my league and I shouldn't even try, but more often then not I feel like I really have a shot with him. I'm not even scared about what would happen to our friendship if he said no. I would still talk to him. **

**I don't know what caused me to realize that. Maybe it's because I finally have friends who love me and treat me like a person. *huggles friends* I have no idea what I would do without you guys! I love you so damn much!**

**Soooo.........That's the end of my second sob story. And if you took the time to read this, thank you. It really means alot to me that you took the time. (I'M SORRY THAT THIS NOTE IS SO LONG!)**

**And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.......*drum role***

**LOVE UNDER A BLOODRED SKY CHAPTER 9!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Disclaimer:****I do not own or make money off of Inuyasha. This was made purely for fans by a fan. It is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed by or affiliated by Rumiko Takahashi or Viz Media, or any other affiliates.**

**Flames are welcome**

* * *

Chapter 9

His shoulders were shaking with the force of laughter. He really didn't know how long he could keep it up. He had been laughing so hard that eventually there was no sound coming from his open mouth, just shallow breaths and quaking shoulders. When he was a kid, he often wonder if someone could laugh so hard they would die of suffocation. When he was older he didn't believe it, but now he wasn't so sure.

Kagome was walking next to him. Her grip on the bag of ice tightened. His laughter was giving her a headache and wasn't helping the already throbbing pain. The chilled bag only helped a bit. When she glanced over at him and found him still laughing—without any sign of letting up—she growled. "It's not funny!"

"Are you kidding?" Inuyasha said after he caught his breath. "That's hilarious! Honestly, how often does someone's hair get caught in a blow dryer? Now, how did it happen again?"

Kagome stuck out her bottom lip. "The part where the air gets sucked into the dryer caught my hair and pulled it in. It really hurt. So stop laughing!" This only caused Inuyasha to laugh harder. Annoyed, Kagome sped up.

Inuyasha easily caught her. "Wait, before you storm off and refuse to talk to me for about and hour or two, can you tell me what's on the schedule for today?"

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. Without looking away, she jabbed her elbow into his gut and forced him to double over a bit. Turning on her heel, she walked off.

"Hey!" he shouted after her, "What the hell?" When she didn't answer, his once amused grin fell into his well-known scowl. "You're too damn sensitive, Kagome!"

"I am _not_!" she shouted back. "And you would know what was taking place today if you would just listen for once in your life to what Mitsuya was saying!"

Inuyasha quickened his pace until he was next to Kagome again. "For your information, I _was _listening. I just didn't happen to catch what we were doing." Kagome just rolled her eyes.

Down by the lake, Kouga stood in the water, leering at Inuyasha. "That stupid Inuyasha," he muttered, "Can't believe that he was so rude to her on the first day here and now he thinks he can start hanging around her."

Ayame tried to ignore the pang of jealousy she felt towards Kagome. They had had enough of Ayame's envious attitude in middle school. She sighed and turned around to face Kouga.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be teaching me how to catch a fish with just my hands?" she asked in mock annoyance.

Kouga looked at her. "You still haven't caught one yet?"

Ayame pouted. "It's not that easy!"

"You the key is to teach yourself how to see the fish."

Ayame sighed exasperated. "I'm doing that! I keep looking for the sheen of their scales but I'm always to late too—"

"Don't look for their sheen."

Ayame stopped talking and looked at Kouga. "What?"

"Don't look for their sheen," he repeated. "Start looking for what sets them apart from everything else in the lake."

"Like what?" Ayame inquired.

"What do they do that nothing else in this lake does?"

Ayame thought for a moment. She bit her lip and looked down at the water as if it was going to give her an answer. "The way they…move?" she said uncertainly.

Kouga nodded. "They move differently then, say, a stick would move. What else?"

"Their shape?"

Kouga grinned and nodded. "Yes!" he said, almost causing Ayame to blush. "Stop looking for their scales and start looking for their features."

Ayame returned to searching for fish. Something long darted by to her right. She acted immediately. Her hand hit the water and instead of it making contact with the fish, it made contact with the slimy lakebed and she almost fell in. Kouga managed to catch her.

"You've gotta be quicker than that. Have your hand already up and ready before to move. And keep your hand flat and at an angle so it slices through the water, not smacking it with your palm." He grabbed Ayame's hand and positioned it so it looked as if she were about to chop a plank of wood in half. "Now try it," he instructed.

Kouga stepped back and Ayame began searching the water for the slippery animal. Her keen eyes caught sight of one and she moved. Her hand sliced through the water and when she brought it back up and wriggling fish was caught in her grasp. She gasped.

"Nice job!" Kouga complimented, clapping her on the back. "Now let's get breakfast."

* * *

"So, Ayame," Sango said once at the Mess Hall. "You were absent this morning. Where were you?"

Ayame stopped spreading strawberry jam over her slice of toast. "Oh, Kouga was teaching me how to catch a fish with just my hands."

Sango quirked a brow. "And?" she pressed.

"I got one!" Ayame gushed.

Sango inwardly sighed. That was not what she had been hoping. Expecting, yes, but not hoping. She and Kagome exchanged silent glances.

Inuyasha approached the table, eyebrows scrunched together as he read a text on his sidekick. His tray decked out with food was tipping and nearly fell if Miroku hadn't caught it and set it down. Miroku sat across from Sango and Inuyasha sat across from Kagome, still reading the text.

"Who's it from?" Kagome asked.

Inuyasha shrugged. "Dunno. Some random girl I guess. Damn, that's the eleventh text I've gotten from a girl asking me to go out with them. How did these crazy chicks even get my number?"

Miroku tilted his head in thought. "I think it's because an ex-girlfriend of yours posted it on the school website as payback."

Inuyasha swallowed a strip of bacon without seeming to chew it. "Oh yeah," he muttered.

"Wow," Ayame exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Inuyasha defended. "I just broke up with her."

Miroku sighed. "You snapped at her in front of practically the entire grade, remember? You said somewhere along the lines of 'Get off me, you're so god damn clingy!' and that's where you stalked away."

"Hey, she wouldn't stop touching me! And she was always hanging onto my arm." Inuyasha growled.

Kagome tore off a piece of her bacon and popped the bit in her mouth. "She was probably happy to be dating Inuyasha; The It Male of the School."

Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at Kagome. "Are you making fun of me?"

Kagome widened her eyes, innocently. "Of course not!" She paused. "Well, maybe a little bit."

"Why you—!" Inuyasha started but was silenced by a swift tug of his long black hair, courtesy of Miroku. The two friends glared at each other before returning to their breakfast.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "With that attitude, I can't imagine anybody wanting to go out with you."

"She probably just wanted me for the money," Inuyasha grumbled, trying not to sound like the statement bothered him even though it did. Too many of the girls he went out with continuously asked him to buy things for her. And he was sick of it. "Besides, it wouldn't have worked out anyways."

"Oh really?" Sango asked. "Why's that?" Miroku just rubbed his temple in exasperation.

"Let's just say that I'm not the right kind of person to be dating anyone." Inuyasha replied cryptically.

"I keep telling you, Inuyasha," Miroku turned to face his friend, "that if she really likes you, she won't care."

Inuyasha growled and yanked Miroku by the collar roughly.

"Hey!" Sango exclaimed at Inuyasha's brash behavior.

"And I keep telling you," Inuyasha hissed in Miroku's ear, "that no girl in their right mind won't scream and run away after they figure out just _what _I am."

Their squabble was interrupted by the approach of someone. "Good morning," she said, taking the available seat next to Inuyasha.

"Oh, good morning, Kikyou," Kagome said. "What are you doing over here?"

Kikyou rubbed the back of her neck. "I was, um, just tired of being around those other girls in my group."

Kagome looked over Kikyou's shoulder to find Kikyou's two cabin mates jabbering away, not even noticing Kikyou's absence.

"What are they talking about?" Sango asked.

Kikyou shrugged. "It's anybody's guess. When I left they were complaining about their 'un-gawdly carb intake." The corner of her mouth quirked up. "Their words, not mine." The girls cracked up. Inuyasha simply shot Miroku a look that said 'Do you know what their talking about?' Miroku shook his head and shrugged in response.

Inuyasha sighed. Leave it to girls to be picky about food. If it tastes good and gives you energy, you should eat it! Kikyou took a bite of her slice of toast and Inuyasha realized that it was all she had on her plate. "Hey," he said, "is that really all you're eating?"

Kikyou swallowed and looked over at Inuyasha. "Um, well this morning I wasn't very hungry for much." She placed her hand over her stomach. "In fact, I'm not so hungry anymore." Ditching the rest of her toast, she stood up. "I guess I should be going now. I'll see you guys around." With a wave, she turned around and exited the Mess Hall.

"Hmm," Kagome said, taking a sip of her orange juice. "Wonder what's up with her?"

* * *

Rin knocked on the door to Sesshomaru's study. When he didn't answer she knocked again. Still, he didn't answer. Sighing, Rin pushed the door open and entered the dark room, the only light coming from Sesshomaru's laptop.

"Rin," Sesshomaru greeted.

"Are you hungry? I brought you some food."

Sesshomaru shook his head. "No. You may take it away."

Rin stuck her bottom lip out. "Have you eaten anything this passed week?" Sesshomaru didn't answer which only confirmed her question. "You're gonna get sick if you keep going on like this."

"I won't get sick," Sesshomaru stated, waving away the statement.

Rin ignored him and entered the room. She pushed a set of books and binders off his desk and replaced them with the tray of food. The books and binders hit the floor with a _crash!_ Sesshomaru ignored the noise.

"When do the parents/guardians of the campers come in for a visit?" Sesshomaru asked.

Rin tilted her head and thought a moment. "Um, end of next month."

"Good," Sesshomaru replied.

"What exactly are you doing in here that's so important?" Rin asked.

"I'm trying to figure out what's going on." Sesshomaru said, returning to his laptop. "If I can just figure out if there have, agh!" he cried suddenly as the lights flashed on. "Rin!" Rin just smiled from her spot by the light switch.

"Alright, you," Rin said, making her way around the desk to Sesshomaru. "You are going to get out of this room and—" she paused when she grabbed a lock of his hair. She let it go and looked at her hand. "When was the last time you took a shower?" When he didn't answer, Rin began wiping her hand on his sleeve. "Right then, well, I guess the first thing you should do is wash your hair."

* * *

"Hey, Miroku," Inuyasha said from the top of his bunk. "When is that parent visit thing?"

Miroku got up from the beanbag in the center of the room, which originally had three boulders covered with a blanket before Inuyasha complained about them. He went over to the bulletin board by the door. "Uh…end of next month."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and laid down on his back. "Joy," he muttered sarcastically.

"Now, now, Inuyasha," Miroku said turning to him. "I'm sure Rin will make sure you and Sesshomaru won't try and kill each other."

"Oh, is the Great Inuyasha scared of his parents?" Kouga mocked.

Inuyasha didn't say anything. Instead he leapt from his bunk and right at Kouga. If Miroku hadn't blocked his path, they would've started a tussle for sure.

Someone knocked hesitantly at the door. Mitsuya opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Are you guys ready?"

"Oh yeah," Inuyasha said and broke free of Miroku. "What are we doing again?"

Mitsuya paused and chewed his lip, obviously contemplating something. "Inuyasha," he said and stepped inside. He breathed deeply to puff out his chest and lifted his head. In an attempt to make himself seem more intimidating and self-assured just ended up looking like the little brother wanting to play with is older brother—desperate and wanting to be accepted. It was obvious that Ai told him to stop acting like a timid little boy and start acting like a counselor who deserved to get paid. Or, at least, something like that. "Y-you should have been paying attention when I was explaining everything when I got you up this morning."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I was half-asleep. What did you expect?"

Mitsuya's eyes flitted to Inuyasha's sleeping bag. "A-and you're not supposed to even be sleeping on that side of the room. The firemen said—"

"I'm sure that if something was wrong something bad would've happened by now," Inuyasha said.

Mitsuya was about to say something else when Ai opened the door. "Are you ready?" she asked in her smooth voice.

"Hold up," Inuyasha said, "what are we doing today?"

Ai blew a bubble with her gum and it popped. Inuyasha flinched; that was never a good sign. At a calm pace, Ai walked over to Inuyasha, her bare feet padding against the floor and the bells on her wrists and ankles jingling. When she reached Inuyasha she grabbed hold of his ear. "We are going to learn about several survival skills," she said quite loudly and slowly. She pulled away. "Did you understand?" she asked in the same tone.

"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha grumbled. He sidestepped the counselor and exited the cabin, followed by Miroku and Kouga with Ai and Mitsuya bringing up the rear.

* * *

Sango lifted her bottle of water to her lips and took a nice long drink. She swallowed and wiped her brow with her arm. The sun was bright that morning, causing her eyes to squint. _'It's so unnaturally hot today,' _she mentally complained.

"Mmm," Kagome grumbled, disturbed by the heat. She took Sango's water bottle and practically chugged what was left of the water.

"Hey," Sango griped halfheartedly.

Kagome twisted the cap back on the now empty bottle and handed it back. "Sorry,"

Sango just grunted in reply and stalked over to a trashcan and tossed it out.

Inuyasha appeared sporting a water bottle of his own. The minute Kagome saw it, she reached for it. Inuyasha raised it high above his head where Kagome couldn't reach it. "Hands off," he said, "get your own damn water."

"It's because I don't have any water that I'm trying to take yours." she said. She made a pass to grab it again, but Inuyasha tossed into his other hand.

Kagome scowled. "It's so hot. Are you really going to let me suffer?"

"You're suffering?" Inuyasha asked incredulously. He grabbed a fistful of his hair. "I've got hair all the way down to my ass! Not to even mention that it's black!"

Kagome hummed. "Why do you even have your hair so long?"

"Maybe I like it long." Inuyasha muttered, silently wishing he had his silver hair back. His mother had loved his hair, not just because it was silver but because it was soft too. At least that's what she claimed. He never actually believed that his hair was soft. _'I guess that's why I keep it long,' _he thought to himself.

"Well, if you like it long, then don't complain!" Kagome griped and moved for the water bottle again. This time she was able to grab it while Inuyasha had his guard down. She unscrewed the cap and poured the water down her throat.

"Hey!" Inuyasha yelled and tried to grab the bottle back. Kagome turned her back to him to keep him away and his arms ended up wrapping around her waist. He jerked her to the side in an attempt to reclaim the bottle but the water ended up spilled all over Kagome's white shirt.

She leered at Inuyasha. "Thanks," she said sarcastically.

"Feh. At least you've got something to keep you cool," he muttered, trying to think about other things then the fact that Kagome's shirt was practically translucent.

Kagome looked down at her shirt. She sighed. "Now I have to go and change. There was a reason why I dressed in white!"

"I think you look fine, Kagome," Miroku said, mostly to her pink polka-doted bra.

"If you'll excuse me," Kagome mumbled, a small blush dusting her cheeks. She sped walked back to her cabin. Minutes later she returned with a red tank top to match with her white skirt.

"Are we ready?" Ai called. The teens nodded and Ai led the way to their activity.

* * *

By the time the group got to their destination, they were all panting and soaked with sweat. Kagome pulled at her tank top to give her hot skin room to breath, but the shirt snapped back into place, plastered to her skin. While Inuyasha, Kouga, and Mitsuya were too busy focusing on how hot it was, Miroku was having a field day, surrounded by girls with skin-tight tops.

"Are we there yet?" Ayame groaned for the umpteenth time.

"Yes, we are." Ai said, pushing a lock of hair behind her multiple-pierced ear. She seemed to be the only one there who wasn't dying of the heat.

Inuyasha looked at the small building. "Is there AC?" he asked.

Kagome turned to him, forcing a weak smile. "Poor rich boy doesn't know what it's like to be without his little electronics."

"Shut…up," Inuyasha grumbled, dragging out the statement. "I just don't do very well with hot weather." He resisted the urge to stick out his tongue and pant like a dog.

"Well, then it's your lucky day, Inuyasha." Ai said, turning to him. "When one is faced with certain situations, one must learn how to survive." Without saying anything else, Ai marched up to the door and stepped inside the cabin. The rest of them followed suit and groaned when the temperature didn't get cooler. In fact, it seemed to get hotter.

When the door closed, a dagger flew out of nowhere, whizzing just passed Kouga's ear, and lodged itself in the door frame. The girls shrieked, the guys jumped, and Ai just stared ahead and popped her gum.

"When in the wilderness," a low and gravely voice piped up from the darkness, "you should be ready for anything." A tall figure stepped out of a dark corner of the room. In the light, the figure revealed itself to be a man in his late thirties. A scar slashed across the left half of his face, forever closing his eye. The other eye was a dull, dull brown and very narrow. "Because if you aren't, you'll end up with this," he lifted up his right hand and revealed a missing thumb.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "He's just trying to scare us,"

The man grinned, showing of a row of teeth damaged by scurvy, and turned his hand so his palm was facing the group. And he was indeed missing a thumb.

Kagome took half a step back.

"What's your problem?" Inuyasha whispered.

"That man scares me," she responded. "His eye shows no emotion and I don't like it when he smiles."

The man walked over to retrieve his dagger. Inuyasha instinctively positioned himself between him and Kagome.

The man wrenched his dagger out of the door frame and his eye caught Inuyasha's. Inuyasha flinched when the man smiled. "C'mere," the man said, beckoning Inuyasha over. Slowly, Inuyasha made his way over to the man. "What is it that you want to protect?" he asked.

Inuyasha paused. "What do you mean?"

The man waved his dagger in the air. "What is so important to you that you want to protect? What will you put your life on the line for?"

Inuyasha scratched the back of his head. The thought of being a hanyou sneaked into his mind. That was something he wanted to protect; his true identity. But would wanting to protect a secret count? Was it too selfish? This man didn't seem to be looking for a selfish answer, but Inuyasha said it anyways.

The man narrowed his eye. Inuyasha was right; he wasn't looking for a selfish answer. "Maybe I should've asked who is it that you want to protect."

"Who?" Inuyasha repeated stupidly.

"Yes, who. Have you got rice stuck in your ears, boy?"

"No, I," Inuyasha trailed off. What was wrong with him? Usually he was the master at sticking up for himself! Where was his fighting spirit? "I guess I'd wanna protect…myself, probably."

Wrong answer. In one swift move, the man had Inuyasha's hand in his own with the dagger pressed against his palm. The blade was cool against his skin.

"Wh-what the hell are you doing?" Inuyasha shouted. He tried to pull his hand away but the pain from the blade was making it hard to do so.

"When you are able to wound yourself with a dagger and swear to protect someone on the blood flowing out, you become a real man, boy." The man withdrew his dagger and headed back to the front of the room. He turned around and flashed his sickening grin at the group. "But before any of that happens, why don't we begin with a few of the basics of survival?"

* * *

Kagome was crouched over a fire pit outside, trying but failing at making a fire. She wiped her brow and furiously returned to work.

Suddenly, a spark caught a piece of wood and a small flame began flickering. She tried coaxing and prodding at the flame to turn into a fire but it just flickered out. Exasperated, she sat back.

A bucked of water was set down next to her and she jumped. "Don't you know that you should have water nearby in case something catches fire that isn't supposed to?" a gruff voice said. That voice belonged to Inuyasha.

Kagome huffed. She was already in a bad enough mood because of the heat and she wasn't exactly eager for Inuyasha's rude attitude. "Well, excuse me," she replied bitterly.

"Who lit a fire under your ass?" Inuyasha asked as he crouched next to her. He grabbed the piece of flint she was working with and rolled it around in his hands.

"You," she muttered.

"I just got here."

"Exactly."

Inuyasha just huffed and turned away from her. He looked at the fire pit. "You still haven't gotten a fire going? It's, like, the basic of the basics!"

Kagome rolled her eyes. She was really in no mood to deal with him at that moment. "I refuse to dignify that with a response."

"Keh, whatever. Move over and let me start this." Inuyasha positioned himself in front of the fire and began striking at the flint. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. Inuyasha frowned. He rearranged the positions of the wood and kindling in a more breathable arrangement. He struck the flint again.

Kagome watched Inuyasha as he worked. He seemed to know what he was doing, and their survival instructor hadn't even coached him in making a fire. She wondered, had he done this before? She asked him as much.

Inuyasha shook his head. "Nuh-uh. Never really got the chance too. My mother told me that before my father died, while she was still pregnant with me, she and my father had come up with all these different activities we could do as a family. But when I was born it was just my mother and me. She tried to do everything they had planned, but it caused financial problems. I remember her telling me that one of the things she and my father had planned was going to Tokyo Disneyland, but it was too expensive."

Kagome hummed. "Camping doesn't really cost much. I remember going camping with my parents when I was young."

Inuyasha shrugged. "Yeah, well, my mother said that camping was more of a thing that sons do with their fathers not their mothers. But I think it's really because it just hurt her too much. My mother was never really much of a woodsy type. Even hikes made her uneasy. My father must have told her that it was alright, that he was there to protect her and would always be with her. He never really got a chance to back that up though."

Despite her earlier irritation with him, she just couldn't help but smile at him. According to Miroku, Inuyasha never opened up to anybody, never even shared what he was feeling or thinking. Which made her wonder just why he was opening up to her. But she didn't bother asking him. She didn't want to scare him off or anything because she actually liked hearing about him and what he has to say. It didn't make him seem so much like a jerk.

Inuyasha grinned when a spark finally caught and soon the fire pit was blazing with flame. "There we go!" he said arrogantly and smirked at her. Kagome just rolled her eyes.

"Kagome! Nice job on the fire!" the survival instructor said, walking up to them.

"Oh, um, I actually…I—" Kagome stopped talking when Inuyasha touched her arm.

Inuyasha leaned into her and whispered in her ear "Just let him think it was you."

"Yes?" the man prompted.

"Thank you," she said. The man nodded, grinned, and walked away.

Kagome turned to Inuyasha who was looking off ahead of him, seeming to be in thought. "Inuyasha?" she said. He hummed, letting her know that he heard her. "What did you and your mother do instead?"

Inuyasha grunted. "Forget it. It happened a long time ago." He walked away and back into the building.

Kagome sighed. Back to his old self again.

* * *

**Owari**

**lol, i searched the meaning of that and I just had to try it! It sounds so weird and formal.....nya!**

**So I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!**

**btw: when Kagoe got her hair caught in the blow dryer, I didn't just make it up; that actually happened to my friend Ashely. I cracked up. **

**I realized that I hadn't had either Rin of Sesshomaru since the first chapter so I just had to give them a part in this. **

**TO MY KIKYOU HATERS: Get used to seeing her. She has a big role in this fic.**

**THANKIES TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED MY LAST CHAPTER!!!!!!!!!**

**LoVe23**

**Dark Dream Angel**

**norainubuchai**

**RavenSoul**

**nightfalcon222**

**Omg omg, DarkFaeireNyroc13, did u even read the last chapter? Methinks I'm gonna text u now and let u know about the new developement......**

**and norainubuchai.....do u mean to tell me that u only read my fics cuz u is bored? *gasp-eth. wacks w/ tuna.* Ur phone still okay?**

**DYING TREES IN LOVE!!!!!!!! X3**

**Ah, yes, please review! It would make me very happy! I like to know what people think of my fics. Especially when they tell me things that I need to work on. so if it's not too much trouble, please take the time to send a review!**

**Blessings!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	11. Loosened Strings

**Hello! I am back and bringing with me a new chapter of Love Under a Bloodred Sky! This chapter is called Loosened Strings. Let's see if you can figure out why!**

**I am so sorry for the long length of time between the last chapter and this one. So sorry! But lately I've been in a sort of writter's slump. I really wanted to write this chapter and I knew exactly what I wanted to put in it, but everytime I opened up the document I just couldn't write anything. It felt as if my muse had completely left me. So I went back and read the reviews I've recieved for this story and it gave me motivation to finish the chapter but not exactly pull me out of the slump. I don't know whether it's because school's almost out for me (FIANALS! AHHHH!) or what, but it's really frustrating. Hopefully any reviews I may recieve for this chapter will be enough to pull me out. Maybe I just need to be reassured that people like me. Lol.**

**Oh and at some point, I'm going to go and change the title of this fic from Love Under a Bloodred Sky to Love Under a Blood Red Sky. I'm just putting a space between blood and red because lately it's been looking like an awkward word that's annoying me.**

**Anyways, onward with the story!**

**Disclaimer:****I do not own or make money off of Inuyasha. This was made purely for fans by a fan. It is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed by or affiliated by Rumiko Takahashi or Viz Media, or any other affiliates. **

**Flames are welcome.**

**What? Why aren't my little stars showing up that I use to indicate time is passing? Oh well, I guess I'll just have to use something else.....okay, if you see ~.~ those marks are replacements for my stars. Hopefully they'll show up for the next chapter! Awp! It won't let me align the title in the center! Curse technology!**

* * *

Chapter 10 ((W00T!))

Loosened Strings

Inuyasha sat cross-legged on his bed. His left elbow rested on his knee and he supported his head with his hand while his other hand was tapping furiously against the bed. Today was Saturday, a day where people go and do whatever they want such as going to town or swimming in the lake; Inuyasha chose to spend the day staring across his cabin at the wall.

It's actually quite funny how quick something you're dreading comes.

His eyes lowered to his phone sitting next to him. The time read 9:50 a.m. Only five minutes have passed since he last looked at it. He growled. Why couldn't it just be the evening already?

Inuyasha growled and let himself fall onto his side. He was getting _very _exasperated.

Not only was today Saturday, but it was also the day that the parents and guardians of the few remaining campers came to visit the camp. He was currently thinking of what he would do when Sesshomaru came. One thing he did know was that he wanted to ask him about what happened in the caves in the previous month. It was after that that had him worried. Would they get caught up in one of their staring matches? Or would they start arguing? Or would Sesshomaru just pretend that he didn't exist like he usually does? Inuyasha hoped it was the latter.

He checked his phone again. 9:52. Damn.

The door opened and Miroku entered, sporting a bright red handprint on his face. Inuyasha just stared at it.

Miroku touched his face gingerly and winced a bit, but a look of contentment was apparent on his features. "Inuyasha," he said.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Yeah?" he answered though he didn't really need to. Miroku didn't need encouragement to continue when he was talking about females or their bodies.

"I'll tell you, Sango hits very hard, but the feel of her butt is totally worth it."

"I'm sure it is," Inuyasha mumbled sarcastically.

Miroku walked over to Inuyasha's bed and climbed up the ladder until he could see his friend. "Y'know, Inuyasha, you always seem to be a little uptight. Maybe you should express your feelings towards the female anatomy. It may prove to be relaxing."

Inuyasha slowly moved his eyes and leered at Miroku. "I'm giving you five seconds to get the hell away from me before I lop of a certain body part so you'll never even go near a woman again. And I do _not _mean your hands."

Miroku just chuckled nervously and scurried down the later and to a corner as far as possible away from Inuyasha.

Inuyasha checked the time.

9:54.

~.~

Kikyou slipped a pink tank top on and checked it in the mirror. It was not good. The shirt was loose and the straps were sliding off her shoulders. She cried out in frustration and tore the shirt off. Standing in a pair of denim shorts and her bra, she looked about the cabin. Rejected clothes were strewn everywhere.

Her stomach growled. She walked over to where her suitcase lied and pulled out a granola bar. She took a bite of it. As she tried to swallow, her stomach felt queasy and her throat closed around her. She spit the morsel out and tossed the rest of the bar away.

Someone knocked on the door.

"If it's Yuki, go away!" Kikyou snarled.

The door opened and Kagome stepped in. She giggled. "Am I okay?" she asked.

Kikyou turned to her and smiled a bit. "Yeah, you're fine."

Kagome walked over to Kikyou's bunk, tossed off a green halter top and sat down. She drew her knees to her chest. "What's up?"

Kikyou shrugged and rubbed her forehead. "I just can't find anything to wear."

Kagome tapped her forefinger to her chin. Her face lit up and she pulled off her baby blue tee-shirt with a penguin on the front and tossed it at Kikyou. "Here, try this."

Kikyou caught the shirt and pulled it on over her head. She breathed a sigh of relief. It fit. "Thanks; it's perfect." Kagome just smiled and slipped on Kikyou's green halter top to match with her white shorts.

Kagome stood up. "It's Saturday; wanna come to town with me, Sango, and Ayame?"

Kikyou raised an eyebrow. "Just us girls, right?" she asked. Kagome nodded. Kikyou sighed with relief. "Okay, sure. It'd be nice to get out with my friends for once."

"Alright!" Kagome said. "C'mon, Sango's trying to get a hold of a bus."

Kikyou waved her ahead. "You go on, I'll catch up." Kagome nodded and exited the cabin. Kikyou turned back to the mirror. She lifted up the shirt and placed her hands on her waist. With one last sigh, she headed to the door, her hand placed over her growling stomach the entire time.

~.~

Kagome skipped down the hill Kikyou's cabin was situated on. When she got down to ground level again, she looked down at the borrowed halter top. _'Kikyou hasn't been looking too well lately,' _Kagome thought. _'I wonder what's wrong. I'm a bit worried about her.'_

Kagome was so absorbed in her thoughts she wasn't looking where she was going. She tripped and fell flat on her face. "Ow," she muttered, getting to her knees. Someone started laughing behind her. She flinched. _'Please don't let it be who I think it is,"_ Kagome silently willed. Slowly she turned around with her eyes closed. When she opened them, she swore silently. Standing behind her was tall, dark, and one hundred percent jerk.

"Inuyasha," she grumbled, and he just kept laughing.

"Oh, damn where is a camera when you need one?" he joked, walking over to her with Miroku next to her. She stood up and he knocked her forehead with the knuckle of his forefinger. "You're more spaced out than usual. I was calling you name pretty damn loud. And then you tripped." Inuyasha tried to keep his composure while he spoke, but when he got to the end of the last sentence he started laughing again.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "I didn't trip, I was just testing gravity. And it works." What Kagome planned to be a simple joke to weasel her way out of embarrassment only made Inuyasha laugh harder. Her face heated up.

Soon the laughter died down and Inuyasha's expression changed back to normal. Miroku cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Kagome weren't you wearing a different shirt earlier?" he asked.

Kagome frowned. How does a guy notice something like that? Maybe he was looking someplace he shouldn't have…? She grinned, and idea forming in her head. Why not torture the pervert a bit? "If you must know, Kikyou and I hosted a private strip show. Must've mixed up our shirts. Too bad you missed it," Kagome said, putting on a fake pitied look. Miroku balked a jealous look in his eye which caused Kagome to giggle. Inuyasha blushed and glared as if he didn't like the idea at all.

Kikyou showed up next to them. She grimaced and held her stomach as it flipped around, going at least 90 miles an hour. Kagome noticed her discomfort.

"Kikyou are you okay? You look a bit sick. Do you want to go lie down?" she asked.

Kikyou shook her head. "No. I think I just need a change of scenery. Do you know if Sango has the bus ready?"

"Oh, are you going to town?" Inuyasha asked. Kikyou nodded. "Cool, can we come? I haven't been yet and I still need to try a different flavor of ice cream." He blushed as remember what happened between him and Kagome the night the deal was set.

Kikyou's eyes widened. "No! I mean, I'd really rather it just be us girls. Y'know, for some girl time."

Inuyasha looked slightly taken aback from Kikyou's outburst. "Uh, yeah, sure. I—" he stole a glance at Miroku who had the same expression. "Miroku and I can just go some other time." Kikyou nodded, mumbled an apology, and hurried over to where Sango was supposed to be with the bus. Inuyasha, Miroku, and Kagome watched her leave with the same questioning expressions on their faces.

Miroku sighed. "Well, it looks like today is just another lounging around in the cabin day. No point in going swimming in the lake if Sango isn't there." Inuyasha and Kagome rolled their eyes as their perverted friend walked off.

An awkward silence passed over Inuyasha and Kagome as they stood there. Kagome grimaced a bit. She did not like silences. Finally, she decided to say something. "Well, goodbye Inuyasha."

"Hey," Inuyasha said, causing Kagome to stop. She turned around and looked back at him. His golden eyes caught her brown ones and she blushed from the intensity of them. "Are you okay?"

Kagome's brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"When you tripped. You're not hurt, are you?" Inuyasha said, a bit of concern in his voice.

"No," Kagome said. "Why, were you worried?"

Inuyasha immediately flushed. "Keh! Of course not! Why would I be?"

Kagome frowned and rolled her eyes. By now, she was used to him being a jerk. "Jerk," she muttered under her breath. She may have been used to it, but she sure didn't need to like it. Turning on her heel, she walked away from Inuyasha.

~.~

Inuyasha frowned as he watched her retreating form. He didn't necessarily like being called a jerk, but he supposed he deserved it. In truth, he was a little bit—_little bit_, mind you—concerned about Kagome when she fell. _'I mean,' _he thought, _'she's like an accident magnet!'_

He frowned again.

Wench needs to be more careful.

Inuyasha kicked a rock in front of him with the toe of his black converse and walked away. And as he walked away, he checked the time.

10:05.

~.~

Kagome slammed her bag down on the food court table. _'I know it's in here somewhere!'_ she thought as she shoveled out item after item onto the table. Kikyou just stared at her over the rim of her soda can and the waiter beside them looked miffed—very miffed.

"Kagome," Kikyou said, "just let me pay for you."

Kagome shook her head furiously as she dumped out a handful of pens. "I don't want you to, Kikyou. I know it's in here _some_place! I never leave without it!"

Kikyou pulled out a crisp $20 from her wallet. "I can pay! I've got the cash!" She began handing it to the waiter, but Kagome stopped her by dumping several pads of paper on her hand.

"I told you, I know it's in here. Besides I don't want to seem like some charity case."

Kikyou rolled her eyes. "As if! You're not _some _charity case, you're _my _charity case."

Though it was just a joke, the jib really struck home to Kagome. Since her parents were killed and she began living with her grandmother, money has been a huge problem for them. They were always very low on money, verging on poor. That was why they needed this camp so much. And she would be damned if it was some insane low-life serial killer that was going to shut them down. "Look," Kagome said as she balled up her fists on the table. "I know that we're having financial difficulties, and I know that I'm not as rich as Inuyasha or Miroku," she paused and Kikyou's eyes widened.

"Oh, Kagome, I didn't mean it like that!" Kikyou said, placing a hand on Kagome's arm. Kagome shook free."

"I know all those things, Kikyou," Kagome continued, acting as if she hadn't heard. "And I do _not _want to be reminded!" Kagome, still fairly angry, began dumping her belongings back into her purse. She hitched the bag over her shoulder. "I'm not so hungry anymore. I'll see you around."

~.~

From the other side of the food court, Sango and Ayame watched incredulously at Kagome storming out of the hall. It was completely normal for Kagome to get mad at those who don't respect her, but it was a whole other ballgame when she got mad at her own friends. Ayame looked at Sango. Sango just shook her head. "Come on," she mumbled. The girls got their food and they headed over to Kikyou.

Kikyou was staring into her soda and stirring the liquid and ice around with her straw. She looked really upset. Sango slid in across from her as Ayame sat next to her. Sango took a long drag of her soda, swallowed, and then leveled her gaze with Kikyou, who was still staring into her soda.

"So, what happened?" Sango said as if it was the most casual thing in the world. She loved Kagome dearly, but she and Kikyou were never as close. And sometimes, the sort of snobbish way Kikyou presented herself and her jibs from time to time kind of ticked her off. But she and Kagome got along well so Sango made an effort to put up with her.

Kikyou slumped into her seat and placed her elbow on the table, resting her chin on her palm. "I just made a joke and Kagome got really upset. I didn't realize how personal it would affect her."

Ayame raised an eyebrow. "What was the joke?"

Kikyou shrugged a bit and leaned back into her chair. "She said something about not wanting to be some charity case and I made a joke, saying that she wasn't some charity case but my charity case. She got really upset."

Sango's eyes widened and she rubbed her face with her hand. "Kikyou, you know about her money problems. Why would you joke about something like that?"

"I didn't think it would hurt her!" Kikyou cried. "I just thought she would laugh at it like with every other joke I told."

"But you weren't telling a joke!" Sango shot back. "You were pocking fun at her misfortune!"

"I wasn't making fun of her!"

"You called her a charity case!"

By this time, both of the girls' voices had risen and they were glaring daggers at each other. Half of the courts attention was on them and Ayame was sinking fast under the table, hoping to not be seen with them. She was being put in a _very _awkward position right now.

"We're friends; she should've known I was joking!" Kikyou growled.

Sango scoffed. "'Friends' don't make fun of other friends!"

"_I wasn't making fun of her_!"

"Ladies," a tall, middle-aged man said, walking up to their table. "You're disturbing my customers. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Don't bother!" Kikyou snapped, getting to her feet. "I was just leaving." Giving Sango one last glare, she stormed off. "Oh," Kikyou said, stopping. She turned back towards the manager. "Your diet soda is awful and it not worthy of being worth $2.50!"

~.~

Kikyou wiped at her tearing eyes as she stormed up the steps to the bus, demanding that she be taken back to the camp. She dumped herself into the seat at the very end and glared out the window.

A joke, she had made a joke! She did _not _deserve to be attacked the way she did! Kagome should not have taken it so personally, making her seem like that bad guy, and Sango should not have blown up in her face, blaming her for something she did _not _do.

A tear fell and she slammed her hand into the back of the seat in front of her. It just wasn't fair! As a friend, she expected Sango to take her side, not attack her! She growled. Why is it that everyone always takes Kagome's side? Why is it that they all treat her as if she were a glass menagerie? Why did they all sympathize towards her? So she had some hardships; big deal! Kikyou had her own fair share! So just because something horrible happens in her life, she's automatically innocent?

Kikyou slammed her hand into the back of the seat again.

It just wasn't fair.

~.~

The bus stopped and Kikyou flew off the bus. Her legs went on autopilot and she let them lead her wherever they would. She was too upset to care about where they would lead her.

Kikyou looked down at the shirt Kagome had lent her and scowled. The first thing she was going to do when she got back to her cabin was rip the shirt off! She looked up at the quickly approaching cabin and she thought about a hot shower. Well, she would rip the shirt off second after her hour-long shower and then she would take a two hour long nap.

Kikyou burst through the door and stopped in her tracks eyes wide. Inuyasha was lying on his back on his bed, his head dangling over the side. He looked up from the magazine he was reading with a surprised look at Kikyou's sudden entrance. "I thought you were at the town with Kagome," he said.

Kikyou frowned darkly at the name. "I came back early." She hoped that he would leave it at that so she could run back to her own cabin and cry in peace from anger and embarrassment from walking into the wrong cabin.

"What happened?" Inuyasha asked.

Kikyou wiped at her eyes, realizing they were probably slightly puffy, and growled on the inside. Inuyasha's telepathic ability: zero. "Nothing important. It was just a stupid fight." She made to leave but was stopped when she heard Inuyasha jump down.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

~.~

A drop of green ice cream fell off the scoop and landed on the table. Kagome stared at that single drop of mint chocolate-chip ice cream as it was wiped up by the girl sitting across the room from her. It turns out that Kagome really did leave her wallet at the cabin.

She leaned forward and rested her aching head in her hand. A sigh escaped her lips as she thought about her fight with Kikyou. Maybe she had been too sensitive? But Kikyou knew about her money problems, so she really shouldn't be making jokes about it. Plus it had really hurt her to be called a charity case.

Suddenly Kagome felt very tired, and all she wanted to do was lie down on her bed and fall asleep. She pulled her bag over her shoulder and stood up, making her way to the door of the ice cream shop.

~.~

Inuyasha fiddled with a stray piece of thread coming loose from the hem of his shirt. He wrapped it around his finger until the blood pooled at the tip of the digit and started to throb. Then he yanked it off.

He looked over at Kikyou, who was _still _talking, before holding back a yawn. A little ways into her story, Inuyasha had gotten tired of it. Then he started internally kicking himself for asking her about why she was so upset in the first place. How was he supposed to know that she would take about thirty minutes just to say one thing? At first he asked because he never liked it when a woman was upset, but now all he wanted was for her to shut up. That's what he got for being nice.

So he zoned out for a bit. But he was able to get the gist of it; apparently Kikyou had made a joke and Kagome took it too seriously.

"So what do you think I should do?"

Inuyasha's head snapped up, realizing that she was finished. "About what?" he said stupidly.

Kikyou stomped the ground. "About Kagome! What do you think I should do about her?"

"Nothing," Inuyasha said, almost instantly. He had gotten Kagome mad several times before and he quickly learned that if he valued his life he would let her calm down before talking to her again. "I know for a fact that she will just snap at you again."

Kikyou's eyes narrowed but said nothing. She turned her face away from Inuyasha and stared down at her bare feet. "So," she began. Inuyasha looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "Who do you side with?"

Inuyasha froze. If he had learned anything from the past girlfriends he's had it was never, ever get involved or take sides during a catfight between females. You only end up getting scratched. He shook his head frantically. "Oh no, you're not dragging me into this!"

Kikyou looked over at him, a look very close to pleading in her eyes. "Then tell me who you think is right!"

Inuyasha's gaze locked with hers. There was definitely pleading in them. Desperation too. It was like she was silently willing him to agree with her, tell her that she was right. He sighed and hung his head down. "I'm gonna have to agree with Kagome on this one," he mumbled.

Kikyou bristled. "Why?" she all but screamed. "It was a joke! It was supposed to be funny!"

That's what really ticked Inuyasha off. Funny? Did she even know the definition of the word funny? Funny was when a blonde lives up to her hair color. Funny was when your friend's foot falls asleep and then nearly falls over trying to walk the life back into it. Funny was when you hit the button on your umbrella and the umbrella head shoots out, nearly hitting someone. Funny was _not _when you attack someone or their problems.

Inuyasha stood up and began walking toward the door. "It's not funny if you hurt them."

He shut the door behind him.

~.~

The time was 6:55 pm.

The parents and guardians would be arriving in 5 minutes.

Inuyasha pulled a jacket on over his shoulders.

Showtime.

~.~

Eyes scanned the landscape, eyes that were a contradictory in itself. The color of the eyes was amber, a color that was usually associated with warmth, yet the feeling of the eyes was cold; a cold, icy gaze that no one could hold for more than a few seconds.

The woman standing next to him searched the area too, her eyes a light brown with a warmer feeling. She lifted herself up onto her toes and placed her mouth next to her companion's pointed ear. "Do you see him yet?"

The man said nothing, just continued to stare out in front of him. Finally his lips parted and he spoke. "No." The woman lowered herself back to ground level.

They were surrounded by people, people looking around for their respected children or charges. Occasionally, one would glance in their direction with a look of awe or curiosity. Whispers flitted throughout the crowd, everyone having to do with the man and woman.

Suddenly, the man's lips curled in a smirk. "I found him, Rin. And it looks like he's made a friend."

Rin followed Sesshomaru's gaze and she smiled when she saw Inuyasha approaching. "Inuyasha!" she cried, practically tackling him.

Inuyasha stumbled back a bit, not even noticing the approach of Rin, focused on something his companion was saying. "Uh…n-nice to see you too, Rin," he muttered.

"I can't tell you how absolutely boring it's been without you!" Rin said, pulling back. "It seems so quiet without you and your brother fighting and nowadays, Sesshomaru has locked himself up in his office not even bothering to come out to eat, forget about talking to me and—" Rin stopped her little rant as she caught sight of a girl standing next to Inuyasha, a hand covering her mouth as if she were trying to keep from laughing. "Inuyasha," she said, looking up at the flustered teen. "Did you make a friend?"

"Uh, yeah. Get off me and I'll tell you." Inuyasha said, pushing Rin off him. "This is Kagome Higurashi, her grandmother owns the camp. Kagome," he turned to her, "this is Rin and that," he pointed to an approaching Sesshomaru, "is my, uh, brother-in-law, Sesshomaru."

Kagome turned to Sesshomaru, smiling. "Hello, Sesshomaru. It's nice to meet you." She held out her right hand. "I just want to thank you for everything you and your company have done for us." Sesshomaru just nodded in her direction, not saying anything and ignoring her outstretched hand. Kagome coughed, embarrassed, and pulled her hand back.

Sesshomaru looked over at Inuyasha, who was regarding him with a glare, and smirked a bit. "Well, little brother, it seems like you're having more fun at this camp than I thought you would." Inuyasha's miffed expression turned red at the comment and Kagome just looked at him, confused.

"Hmph, it's tolerable, that's all." Inuyasha griped. "Anyways, there's something important I need to talk to you about." Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow in obvious intrigue but said nothing. Inuyasha turned to move elsewhere and Sesshomaru followed. Kagome and Rin stared after them.

"I wonder what's up." Rin said.

Kagome shook her head. "Who knows with guys."

~.~

Sango stood on top of a tree stump, looking out over the heads of the crowd of adults. "Who am I looking for again?" she called down to Miroku.

"A short, pudgy man who looks like he's drunk." Miroku said.

Sango looked down at her friend. "Your father's drunk?"

Miroku laughed and shook his head. "No, not my father. My guardian Mushin." He sober up. "But, he really is going to look drunk."

Sango nodded, looking back over at the crowd. "What about your dad? Weren't you talking about him at one point?"

"My dad's dead," Miroku said. "It's just me and Mushin."

"Oh," Sango said, wishing she could take back her question.

"So, Sango," Miroku said, after a length of silence. Sango looked down at him. "What about you? Are your parents coming?"

Sango shook her head. "My parents are," she paused, "they're dead."

"Oh," Miroku said. Another silence passed between them, this one more awkward. "Well, this is certainly an interesting conversation, isn't it?"

Sango chuckled and jumped off of the stump. "Yeah, in a way. But at least we've got something in common. Anyways, I think I found that Mushin guy." She turned around toward the crowed. Suddenly she spun back around, her hand connecting with Miroku's face in a resounding slap. "And keep your hands to yourself, pervert!"

~.~

Kikyou's eyes narrowed as she watched Kagome walk with Inuyasha to meet who she presumed to be Sesshomaru and his new bride. She huffed and turned, disappearing around the corner of a cabin.

~.~

Mushin pulled Miroku into a big bear hug. "Good to see ya m'boy!" Mushin slurred his nose red. Sango stared on with a half amused half shocked expression. He really was drunk. "And who's this young lady?" Mushin said when Miroku pulled away.

"My friend Sango," he answered.

Laughter erupted out of Mushin. "That's quite a pretty girl you've managed to catch!"

Miroku's face reddened. He cleared his throat. "Yes, well I think that Inuyasha is around her somewhere with Kagome…"

~.~

Sesshomaru stared at Inuyasha, the wheels in his mind working overtime at what he's just been told. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Inuyasha nodded. "Yes, I'm sure. What does it mean, Sesshomaru? That's never happened before."

Sesshomaru took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't know, Inuyasha. But I'll look into it. Expect a message from me." Inuyasha nodded and Sesshomaru took his leave.

~.~

Midoriko flicked the switch on the microphone, getting a wave of feedback, making her wince but gaining the crowd's attention. The feedback fell silent and she was able to speak. "Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend the camp's yearly gathering of parents and guardians. This is your chance to learn more about the camp's activities and staff or to just mingle. I know that many of you have been worried about the serial killer in a nearby city, but we have not heard anything from the police and it seems that suspicious activity has died out in the city so we should all be safe. Now, I ask you to please enjoy yourselves." She shut the microphone off and the crowd returned to its previous noisy state.

Sesshomaru was standing by a tree, lost in his own thoughts. He had been expecting to come to this gathering completely bored, but what Inuyasha had said to him gave him something to think about. He sighed and looked out at him in the crowed. He was talking with that Kagome girl he'd introduced earlier that evening.

Sesshomaru smirked inwardly at how reluctant Inuyasha had been the first day he left and now he was actually conversing with one of the "commoners" as he so liked to call them. The grin faded, however, when their conversation found its way back in to his head.

It was going to be a hassle figuring this little mystery out along with the other one he was following, but he had a feeling that in some way the two were connected.

* * *

**And that's the end of it! Kind've a boring chapter, but friendships are being torn a bit, suspicions are comming up, and people grow closer! Guess not every chapter can be exciting......oh well.**

**It's getting more and more difficult for me to write endings for some reason.......**

**I miss my stars! I don't like those little marks as much! And I don't like how this has been acting! Hopefully I can fix it soon!**

**But anyways, thank you for reading chapter ten of Love Under a Blood Red Sky, Loosened Strings!**

**Thanks to all who reviewed my last chapter!**

**Sky Blue Half-Demon**

**LoVe23**

**holla!**

**Namike**

**Dark Dream Angel**

**MollieBabiie**

**If it's not too much trouble, please drop a review! They are very very welcome and I enjoy them a lot!**

**Blessings!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	12. Casting Parts

**Hello! I'm back and with an all new chapter! And it didn't take me as long to write this! Whoo!**

**I think I may have been pulled out of my writter's slump. Or maybe this chapter was just more exciting than the last one. Ooh, yeah it's exciting. Or at least, I was pretty excited and practically on the edge of my seat writting. I had fun! Especially with the bra-and-panty set diddy. That was particularly fun. And then the 'unmentionables' in the girls' cabin. You'll se what I mean.**

**Anyways, I actually had something else planned to say but it's not really all that important. Just things I was thinking about while writting.**

**So, so far, my summer is rather boring because I've been at home for the past two or so weeks with my daddy. He was in the hospital recently, but is okay now. He can't work much though. So while my mommy is working and brother is doing his sports stuff, daddy and I have been sitting on the couch watching Smallville, boing Lana and pumping fists at Lois.**

**Before I picked up manga, I was reading Superman, Supergirl, and The Legion of Superheros comics. daddy and I are the only ones in the house who were really fans of the comics and show. My brother read them too, but he wasn't as much a fan as me. In fact, I'm thinking of readig one of the comics again. Should I pull out my new one, or go for the old ones? **

**Heh. Doomsday.**

**Okay, y'all probably don't want to hear about superheros. After all, you came here for Inuyasha, didn't you? (well, if you're reading this fic, then that's probably a given...)**

**Ah, yes. There is one word that I am going to give you:**

**Fluff.**

**Now please enjoy Love Under a Bloodred Sky, chapter eleven: Casting Parts!**

**Disclaimer:****I do not own or make money off of Inuyasha. This was made purely for fans by a fan. It is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed by or affiliated by Rumiko Takahashi or Viz Media, or any other affiliates. **

**P.S. The uploader is still really screwy so I can't get my stars. So I'm just not going to bother. There's just going to be nothing there, although I'm sure that you'll be able to figure out where the stars were ment to go. Feh.**

**P.P.S. I decided not to change the name. Bloodred is an awesome and original name and I plan to keep it. Besides, why should I change the title?**

**Flames are welcome**

* * *

Chapter 11

Kikyou laid on her back on the rough sand of the lakebed. It was an early Sunday morning and the sun was shining, making it perfect for an early morning dip. She had already been in the water and was letting the sun dry her as she listened to the birds singing. Normally, she wasn't the type of patient person who laid around to let the sun dry them; no, Kagome was more of the type to stop and smell the flowers while Kikyou just barreled on past them, not caring if she happened to kick dirt up on them.

Absent mindedly, she started tugging on the loose strap of her swim suit. The swimsuit was already starting to bunch up and sag in all the wrong places, even though she had bought it especially for the summer. But she had grown accustomed to her clothes not fitting the way they were supposed to. Her stomach growled painfully. She winced and placed a hand on top of it. She had grown accustomed to the hunger pains as well, though they still annoyed her.

The disturbance in the sand was enough to inform Kikyou that someone was there. She sat up and turned. She was somewhat surprised to see Kagome standing there.

Kagome shifted her weight from one foot to the other, looking slightly uncomfortable. She took a step forward. "May I join you?" she asked. Kikyou shrugged and laid back down, already prepared to close her eyes.

Kagome sat next to her, drawing her legs up and resting her chin on her knees. She didn't speak for a while as she contemplated the best way to word what she wanted to say. She didn't want a repeat performance of the day before at the food court. "I just wanted to say," she began slowly, working it out as she went, "that I think I overreacted to what you said yesterday. So for that, I am sorry." Kikyou cracked open an eye to look at her. "As your friend," Kagome continued, "I think I should've known that you were only joking."

Kikyou nodded. "It's okay."

"I wasn't finished," Kagome said. Kikyou looked back at her. "But, as my friend, I think that you should've known that I'm very sensitive when it comes to my money. Both of us were in the wrong and that's why I apologize."

Kikyou inwardly snorted at her logic and stood up, bringing her towel with her. She haphazardly wrapped it around her. "Believe what you want but it was just a joke. I have nothing to apologize for." She made a turn to leave but Kagome was quicker, grabbing her arm before she left. Kikyou turned to her, leveling her gaze.

"You don't normally act like this," Kagome pointed out. "What's this really about?"

Kikyou thought back to the night before and several instances before that. Pain and anger shot through her but she pushed the memories away, effectively pushing away the feelings. "I don't know what you're talking about. There is nothing else." She turned away ready to leave but stopped. She could feel Kagome's gaze on her shoulder blades. "Maybe I'm not so mad about the joke anymore," Kikyou said without turning around. "Maybe this has got to do with something completely different." This time she turned around and leveled her eyes with Kagome's. "And maybe I just don't want to tell you—or anyone for that matter—about it. I'll see you."

Kagome watched her friend's retreating form. When she disappeared behind a cluster of cabins, Kagome let her calm composure slip. To be honest, her heart was hammering inside her chest and her legs felt like water as she was approaching Kikyou. She was nervous when she was approaching the other girl on account of her strange behavior. But after what just happened, all the bitterness and secrecy behind her words had her nervousness hiking up to anxious anxiety. It was almost as if Kikyou had gone under a complete personality change.

Everything had started once they got to the camp, which means, something at the camp was the cause for how Kikyou was acting.

Kagome sighed. She doubted, what with the way Kikyou's been acting, that she would even get a chance to figure out what.

Inuyasha sat in the highest branch in a tree as far away from the camp as he could. The ears on his head, free of the seal that bound them and the rest of his demon blood, twitched at every little sound. Absent mindedly, the young man had glanced down at his clawed hands. He flexed his fingers and listened as the bones cracked.

He was anxious. Anxious and worried. In fact, he was anxious, worried, scared, confused, and just about every other annoying feeling all rolled up into one, giant, messy blob. He had felt this blob of feelings since the night before when he had talked to Sesshomaru.

"_Expect a message from me," _was what the youkai had said to him. Inuyasha had expected the message this morning but hadn't gotten one. He had expected that Sesshomaru, using the links and secret sources that he has, had found something relatively quickly. At least, that's what happened with the other subjects he looked in to. The fact that it was taking him _this _long for the answer to his question had him on edge.

And it was a very, _very_, narrow edge.

Inuyasha shook his head, banishing the thoughts, and leaned back against the tree trunk. He had come out here specifically so he could relax in the form he was truly comfortable in, in the environment that he was truly comfortable in—alone and away from the hustle and bustle of society.

Inuyasha yawned a jaw cracking yawn and stretched his shoeless feet out in front of him. He could barely stand wearing shoes in his human form; forget about wearing them in his hanyou form. For a split second he wondered if someone might be looking for him—maybe someone with Sesshomaru's message—but he decided that he just didn't care. If they really wanted him, they could wait until he decided to come back.

He shut his eyes and listened as nature's soundtrack lulled him to sleep.

The empty juice box crushed in on itself from the force of Ayame's hand. She tossed it deftly in the nearest trash can. Then, she reached into her pack and pulled out another juice box, stabbed the straw through the foil-covered hole on the top, and began sucking the sticky liquid through the straw—alone, eyes narrowed, and itching.

The jingling sound of bells was the only warning Ayame got before a hand touched her gently on top of the hand. "I'm sensing a disturbance in your aura," the smooth voice said.

Ayame frowned and ducked away from Ai's hand. She continued sipping from her juice box. When she was finished, she crushed the box, tossed it in the trash can, and reached for another. Ai's hand came out and grasped her wrist.

"You know," Ai said, crouching down to meet Ayame's eyes. "Most girls stuff their mouths with fattening, inorganic, sweets when they're upset."

Ayame freed her hand and pulled out another juice box, stuck in the straw, and shoved it through her lips. "I know," she said around the straw, "but I'm not like most girls. I have no desired to subject my body to a caloric invasion."

Ai hummed and seated herself next to Ayame on a rock. She stretched out in a way that reminded Ayame of a cat before turning to face the wolf youkai. "Talk to Ai. Let her help you."

"Ughrr," was all Ayame managed to get out before she threw the juice box to the ground with force enough to scare a normal person. However, Ai wasn't a normal person, therefore, she was not affected. "I am getting so sick of that jerk fawning over Kagome when it's clear she is not interested in him!"

Ai bent over to retrieve the juice box, muttering something about protecting the planet from insane, trash-throwing people and their juice boxes. When she straightened up she looked over at Ayame who was still fuming. "Ai is assuming that you mean Kouga?"

"Of course I mean Kouga!" Ayame hissed. "Who else would I be talking about?"

A wry grin crossed Ai's lips. "Inuyasha's a jerk too. It's very unlikely, but I just wanted to make sure you haven't started falling for him."

Ayame wrinkled her nose. "Inuyasha? Of course not! He's nowhere near my type." She sighed and laced her fingers together. A saddened, faraway look replaced the angry expression. "Ever since we met in junior high, he's liked her. Even when the single time he asked her out and she said no, he still went after her, claiming that he could make her love him." An exasperated expression took over. "He's just so tenacious sometimes."

Ai, leaning back on the rock, supported by her arms, hummed in agreement.

Kikyou stepped out of the shower and collapsed on her bed. The past few days—no, scratch that—the entire time she had been at the camp as been anything but easy for her. In fact, things were so aggravating, that she lost sleep mulling over all of the problems. So she was always about as alive as a steamed cabbage in the mornings. Right now, all she wanted to do was close her eyes and fall asleep.

Of course, in life, the moment where all you want is to be left alone, is the precise moment you are most popular.

A knock on the door came and, not for the first time, Kikyou wished that there was a lock on the door. She rolled over onto her side, hoping that whoever was going to enter the cabin would think she was asleep and just leave her alone.

And then she thought about who the visitor might be. At that thought she snapped into a sitting position so fast she got light headed. She placed a hand to her forehead to slow the dizziness. The door opened.

And the person who stepped through was not worth the sick feeling she had from sitting up too fast.

Actually, the person who stepped through was not worth much of anything if you asked her.

Standing there on the threshold of the cabin, wearing knee length cargo shorts and an army green tee-shirt, brown hair pulled back in a ponytail off of her neck, and a slight frown and a bored expression on her face was Sango.

Kikyou never liked Sango much. Maybe it was how she seemed to carry herself. She always had her head up and shoulders back in a way that seemed like complete arrogance to Kikyou. Maybe it was the way she always played the 'pity me' card because of her little problem. After all, everyone had problems. Or maybe it was how she could read people so expertly, until the point where it seems that she knows somebody better then they knew themselves. That particular trait always had Kikyou feeling naked whenever Sango looked at her. And not just a glance, but really looked at her. As if she was reading her like a book.

Kikyou collapsed back on the bed, pulling the covers out and over her head. "Can you go away? I don't feel good at all."

"Kagome's upset," Sango said, ignoring her request. Kikyou didn't stir. "So why don't you tell me what's wrong with you?"

This, Kikyou reacted too. She pushed the covers of her and sat up, staring at Sango. "What do you mean? I'm fine."

Sango raised her eyebrows. "Really? You just said you felt sick a minute ago."

Kikyou's eyes narrowed at the girl. "Don't try to play me. What are you really trying to get at?"

"You've been losing weight," Sango claimed, not one to beat around the bush. "Kagome's noticed it, I've noticed it, hell, even Inuyasha has noticed something's not right with you, and he may very well be the densest person I know. Now Kagome, being who she is, is worried about you."

"If she's so worried about me, then why doesn't she ever ask me about it?" Kikyou replied.

Sango shut the door and took a few steps inside the small building. "She's tried to. But you keep pushing her away. So now I'm asking you:" she paused, looking over at Kikyou from where she stood. "What's wrong with you?"

Kikyou laid back down and pulled the covers over her head again. "I told you, I'm not feeling well."

"Why are you losing weight?" Sango pressed, stepping closer to the girl.

Kikyou rolled over. "It doesn't matter,"

"Why are you losing weight?"

"Let it alone, Sango."

"_Why are you losing weight?"_

Kikyou bolt up, the covers falling around her figure, and fixed Sango with a dangerous glare. "I said forget about it!"

Sango inhaled sharply at Kikyou's unexpected outburst, but held her ground.

"I'm not going to tell you anything," Kikyou said, quieter but just as hard. "So you might as well stop pestering me about it." Her stomach growled but she ignored it, only placing a hand on her aching belly. "And why don't you tell Kagome the same thing." Having nothing more to say, Kikyou once again pulled the covers over her head and laid back down, back to Sango and curled up in a ball. She heard retreating footsteps, the creak of an opening door and the bang of it shutting. The breath she held escaped in a whoosh.

Her stomach ached.

She whimpered.

Inuyasha nervously tapped his fingers against his thigh as he approached the counselor's cabin. He knew he should probably wait; wait for someone to contact him. But he was just so nervous. It was getting close to evening and he had really expected Sesshomaru to pull something up and contact him by that point.

He approached the door. Twisting the knob, he pushed it open and stepped inside.

To the left of him was the archway that led to the lounge where several of the counselors, including Mitsuya and Ai. Across from him, a door opened and Midoriko stepped through, papers in hand and a scrunched brow as she studied them. _'That room must be where all the business is taken care of.' _Inuyasha thought._ 'Which means that if there's a message from me, it would be in there.'_

Inuyasha stepped up to Midoriko. "Hey, old lady." Midoriko stopped and looked up from her papers at him, a frown clear on her face. "Ah, no, I mean, dammit," Inuyasha said, the last part coming out in a whisper. Midoriko still stared down at him, as if daring him to continue. Inuyasha never realized before, but this woman was very imposing. He silently wondered if Kagome inherited a subtler version of the trait, with her commands, sometimes verging on bossy. Forgetting about that, Inuyasha returned to the task on hand. "Is there a message for me?"

"No," Midoriko said slowly. She started walking again. As she passed him she spoke again. "I would watch your mouth if I were you, young man. After all, this camp was your other choice besides seeing a judge. Kagome did say that you had a sharp tongue."

Inuyasha turned his head and watched her back as she retreated from the cabin. _'Kagome talks about me?'_

Ignoring the thought and the sudden unknown feeling that bubbled up, he moved to leave the cabin.

"Oh, Inuyasha!" Kagome called out as soon as she saw him exiting the counselor's cabin. The teen in question turned at the sound of his name being called. She held out a bundle of clothes.

Inuyasha looked from the bundle to Kagome. An eyebrow quirked up. "Thanks, but I don't think that those clothes will fit me. Besides, I doubt that my legs will look any good in miniskirts." Kagome ignored him and just pushed the bundle into his chest.

"I just finished washing them and I need you to put them with the rest of my stuff. I would do it, but I really don't have the time."

This time both eyebrows shot up. "It's 7:00 on a Sunday. Nothing's going on. What could be so important that you can't even put your clothes away?" he asked incredulously, eyeing a lacy bra that was peeking out from under a pair of shorts. He had never had to put clothes away, let alone girl's clothes, and the world of women's undergarments was something he didn't think he was quite ready to jump into, despite several rumors running around at his school.

Kagome shifted from one foot to the next. "It's Sango," she said hurriedly. "There's something really important that she needs to speak with me about, and I really need to get to her." At Inuyasha's quizzical look, she sighed. "It's personal. Something I really can't share, okay?"

Finally, Inuyasha nodded, understanding the need for personal secrets. He mumbled an unenthusiastic agreement, still not wanting to have to touch a bra-and-panty set, especially Kagome's bra-and-panty set. Kagome quickly thanked him and rushed off, leaving Inuyasha staring down at the bundle of clothes.

'_How close to a person of the opposite sex do you have to be before it's appropriate to entrust them with their underwear?'_

He watched the girl run off away from the boy from the safety of the surrounding foliage. It wasn't exactly how he had planned it, but maybe this little stitch would work out in a different way. Grinning, he disappeared into the darkness, clutching something tightly in his hand.

Inuyasha trudged up the hill towards the girls' cabin, the once neatly folded clothes now a wad of balled up fabric in his hands. He gripped the knob and pushed the door open. He looked around. This was actually the first time he had been in the girls' cabin. They had always come over to their cabin.

It had a very feminine vibe. The beds were neatly made with brightly colored down comforters and pillow cases. On the several tables and drawers around the small front room held small bottles of perfume, bits of make-up, and other unmentionables that Inuyasha chose to keep under the list of things he didn't want to think about. The only thing that surprised him a bit was that there were some clothes strewn across the floor. Dirty clothes littering the floor was always something he associated with teenage boys, since he himself did that, but the floors of his own cabin were clothes-free, mostly due to Kouga's need to live in a clean environment.

He walked farther into the cabin and something caught his eye. It was standing on the small table next to one of the bunk beds. He approached the object and picked it up, realizing that it was a small music box. Curious, he opened the top and a figure of a small girl popped up and slowly began turning around. A haunting tune started playing and Inuyasha felt the sudden urge to shut the box. He did just that and the music instantly stopped, calming him down a bit.

Inuyasha placed the little box back down and looked at the bunk beds, wondering which one was Kagome's so he could dump the clothes. He suddenly wished that he had asked her which one was hers.

He shrugged. Not like that was really necessary. Closing his eyes, he slowly pushed back the seal, enough so that his sense of smell would heighten and he could pinpoint Kagome's bed. His sense of smell rose but so did something else; the hairs on the back of his neck. His youkai instincts were kicking in.

His eyes quickly scanned the room, trying to locate the source of the threat. When they landed back on the music box, he went rigid. Slowly, he stretched his arm out. Grasping the small box, he pulled it close to his face and sniffed it. He snapped back from it like a bullet from a gun. It smelled like poison and there was a metallic taste in his mouth. He could feel his stomach churning and he worried that he would throw up.

Where did this thing come from?

Suddenly the top snapped open and the girl sprang up, the music flowing out from it, only this time, it was much quicker and the girl was turning much faster, giving off a fast clicking noise.

His eyes widened. Dropping the clothes and tightening his grip on the box. He turned to leave but stopped at the sight of Kagome standing on the threshold. She was staring down at the discarded mass of clothes.

"Inuyasha!" she snapped. "I ask you to put away my clothes, and this is what you do? You drop them on the floor and start rummaging through my stuff?"

"Kagome," Inuyasha said, the alarm clear in his voice. "You need to move, now."

Kagome stood her ground and glared at him. "Why? You still owe me an explanation, buster! I suggest you start right now!"

Inuyasha tried to maneuver around her but she slammed her hand into the frame of the door, blocking him. She continued to glare at him. "Kagome," he said slowly, trying to keep calm. "I really need to go. Please move."

"No way!" she shouted. "I'm not moving until you explain to me why…what have you got there?" Inuyasha held up the box, the music and turning faster than before. "What is that?"

Inuyasha couldn't hold back anymore. His instincts were screaming at him to get rid of the box. "It's something extremely dangerous and you need to move _now!_' he snarled at her, his eyes flashing gold. Before Kagome could react, Inuyasha had shoved her to the side and started running towards the lake like a bat out of hell.

But the lake was too far and the music and turning was speeding up. Inuyasha pushed farther back on the seal and only stopped when he could feel his ears shifting up on his head. He welcomed the burst of speed from his hanyou abilities and pushed even harder.

He came to the edge of the lake, pulled his arm back, and threw the box with all his might into the water. The second he released the box he turned to run, but he didn't get two feet away before the explosion. The force knocked him to the ground and water from the lake rained everywhere around him.

Bleary eyed and ears ringing, Inuyasha raised his head to see many of the campers had been drawn to the site. He staggered to his feet, breathing heavy. Kagome came to a sudden halt, some few feet away from him, looking completely astonished. Miroku, Sango, Kouga and Ayame showed up soon after. No one appeared to be hurt, and Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief.

That is, until Midoriko showed up.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded, seeming not to care about her language around the younger campers.

"A bomb was planted in Kagome's cabin. I was just getting rid of it."

Midoriko's eyes widened. "A bomb? What the hell is a bomb doing in my granddaughter's cabin?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Inuyasha said. He was aching all over; his legs from the run, his ears from the explosion, and just about everything else in his body. He tried to move but staggered. Kagome took half a step forward as if she was going to help him but stopped. Instead, she just looked at him with eyes that spoke of confusion and a bit of fear. Inuyasha's brow scrunched in confusion at her odd reaction. She looked at Sango who just looked down. All around him, kids and counselors alike were looking around and whispering things. "What?" he all but shouted.

Kagome took a hesitant step forward and Inuyasha looked at her, but she kept her eyes downcast. "Um, Inuyasha, I don't really know how to say this but…" she trailed off. After a pause, she looked up at him and continued. "But people have been talking and…and they've been saying things and…" she stopped again. She almost looked as if she were reluctant to continue, not really wanting to finish what she was going to say. She opened her mouth again.

"We think you're responsible for the accidents here," a kid shouted from the crowd. Kagome closed her mouth and when Inuyasha fixed her with an astonished stare, eyes wide and brow scrunched together, she nodded grimly.

"Yes," she whispered.

"And you believe them?" he shot at her.

She looked up at him, eyes wide. "Well, I—"

Someone cut her off.

"It's seems pretty obvious." Another kid shouted. "You are that delinquent after all. And you've always been at the exact place where the accidents happened."

"I heard that he used to skip school just to beat up random people n the street," a voice whispered in the crowd.

"Well, I heard that he once flooded his school," another voice said.

If Inuyasha were in his true form, he would be growling right now.

"Oh my God, I heard that he set fire to some poor old man's house," came another voice.

"I heard that—"

"Enough!" Inuyasha roared. His shoulder started throbbing painfully and he clutched it. He was breathing heavily and snarling at the crowd. "I didn't cause those accidents! And besides, why would I want to blow anyone up?"

"Maybe you're the killer," a boy, about 14, said, stepping forward.

Inuyasha laughed bitterly. "Right. I, some little rich boy who is kept on a tight leash by my brother-in-law, have been jumping to cities across the country and murdering people. Pray tell just how I managed to get to one county to the next in a matter of a few hours? I'm just a simple human!"

Whispering started up again.

"I never really believed his story about being related to that Rin woman who married Sesshomaru did you?"

"It does seem a little strange that he would have such connections with Sesshomaru at such a young age, when he supposedly started living with him."

"Maybe he's a rogue youkai that Sesshomaru was keeping with him to keep under control."

"No way! Then why would the largest supplier of Japanese military weaponry let a monster like that out in a camp like this?"

"Maybe he thought that he was under enough control to let out,"

"But that doesn't—"

"Shut up!"

The crowd hushed immediately.

"Okay," Inuyasha said, fuming. "Suppose I am the killer." He pointed to Kagome. "She can be my victim, the one I'm trying to kill."

"C'mon, Inuyasha, don't do this," Miroku pleaded, stepping forward toward his friend.

Inuyasha turned to face him. "Oh, you want to be someone too? Fine. You can be my innocent friend that's begging me not to kill her." The crowd remained silent, shifting and glancing at one another. Inuyasha raised his voice. "C'mon, there are plenty of roles to go around. Who wants a part?" He pointed to a boy in the crowd. "You want a part? What about you?" Someone coughed and Inuyasha turned his attention. It was Shippou, the kitsune he met on the bus ride over here the first day. "You? Okay, you can be the idiot kid who tries to be a hero, but gets himself killed in the process!" Shippou recoiled and scampered over to Kagome, scared. "Who else wants a role? Don't be shy, go ahead and shout out what you want to be. Doesn't matter to me, I'll just "kill" you all." He turned to Midoriko, stunned by his outburst. "'Cause I'm a delinquent right?" With that said, and without saying another word, he turned around and headed off towards the forest.

It took about ten minutes of searching, but eventually Kagome found Inuyasha perched up on a high branch in a tree. The sun had begun to set, causing the trees to cast shadows all over, making Inuyasha's eye seem pure black as opposed to violet-black. "Hey," she said. Inuyasha turned his dark eyes to her.

"What?" he said darkly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Inuyasha turned away from her. "No. Now go away."

Ignoring his request, Kagome seated herself at the trunk of the tree. "You know, those kids don't know what they're talking about."

"I told you to leave, wench."

"Well, I'm not going to. You should know by now that you can't get rid of me that easily."

Inuyasha gritted his teeth, knowing she was right. "Then I guess that I'll just have to leave you."

"I'll follow you."

"I'm faster than you."

"You know I'll find you."

Inuyasha swore, cursing not for the first time the girl's stubbornness. "Is there something you want?" he asked.

Kagome shook her head. "No, not really."

Inuyasha exhaled loudly. "Then why are you here?"

"In case you decide to talk."

Inuyasha laughed once. It was a dark and bitter laugh, one that Kagome did not like. "Well you'd better give up, 'cause I'm not saying anything."

"You know I don't give up."

Inuyasha sighed. "Yeah, I know."

Minutes ticked by, and no words passed between the two. Kagome was ready to just get up and leave him alone but then he spoke.

"I didn't cause those accidents," he mumbled. "I didn't cause the tree to fall, I didn't cause the lightning to catch fire to the cabin, and I didn't put a hole in those canoes."

Kagome looked up at him, surprised that he actually opened up.

"And I'm not trying to kill ya,"

Kagome looked down at the ground and smiled a bit. "I know," she said softly.

Inuyasha, startled, looked down at her. "What?

Kagome looked up at him in the eyes. "I said I know."

"Then why did you act like you believed what they said?"

"Well, Inuyasha, I was in shock. Because one; that song from the box was one from the darker parts of my past, two; that box turned out t be a bomb, and three; that was planted in my cabin, by my bed." Kagome smiled at him, and then the next second she was grabbing the nearest branches.

"What are you doing?" Inuyasha shouted at her. "Don't do that, it's dangerous!" Kagome just ignored him and continued climbing. She was almost too him when her foot slipped and she lost her grip. Inuyasha's hand shot out, grasped her wrist, and hauled her up to the branch he was sitting on. She fell against him.

There was a moment when she was leaning against him that caused his heart so speed up and his eyes to widen. Then a split second later, Kagome pushed herself off him and perched herself on the branch. She looked at him and smiled again.

"When I first heard the rumors, I did consider them." Inuyasha visibly winced at her words. "But the second I did, it felt wrong, and I knew that it wasn't true. It just couldn't be true. Sure, you've had mistakes in the past, but you had good reason too. Besides," she placed a hand on his shoulder, "you saved me today." Kagome started to pull her hand back, but Inuyasha caught her hand with his. She looked at him startled. His eyes were looking into hers, although they were softer then she'd ever seen and more vulnerable than ever. He pulled her towards him, his hand releasing hers to land on the small of her back and the other coming up to rest on her head, keeping her there.

"Inuyasha?" she said.

"All my life," he began, and then paused. She waited patiently for him to continue. "All my life people have judged me by who I am and what I do. They alienated me and labeled me as a delinquent who just didn't care. They assumed the worst of me, and never believed anything I said. Everything that was blamed on me, they never gave me a chance to explain myself. Eventually, I got so used to what they were calling me, I started becoming that. Their words hurt, and it was the only way I knew how to protect myself from their sharp words. But," he swallowed, "you're taking my side today. So…" His throat closed up around the words and he cursed himself for not ever being able to say what he felt, even when it really mattered.

But he didn't have to say it.

Kagome seemed to know.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned in to him, offering as much comfort as she could. "You're welcome, Inuyasha. It's okay."

Inuyasha couldn't help it. He pulled her tighter against him, reaching out toward this girl he still barely knew. Letting her comfort him and console him in ways he hasn't felt since his mother died. He let her tell him it was alright, let her tell him that everything was going to be okay, even though deep inside he knew that things weren't going to be okay. But she made that okay. She made him forget every dark thought and feeling that had been building up inside him. And in her comforting embrace, Inuyasha felt the safest and the happiest that he had ever felt since his mother died.

But he also had a sickening feeling that if he wasn't careful, all of that could be taken away from him in the most vicious of ways.

Whoever this…psycho is that caused the accidents, and who most likely planted the bomb, it seemed to him that his target was Kagome. Whether it had something to do with her parent's murder or just the plan of a sick bastard, Inuyasha wasn't sure. But he was sure about one thing:

No matter what, he absolutely _had _to protect her.

Because if he didn't, then something bad would happen.

He could just feel it.

That narrow edge that Inuyasha was on earlier today just got even narrower.

And if he wasn't careful, he would go tumbling off.

* * *

**End!**

**I had thought about ending it after Inuyasha stalked off to the woods after the bomb incident, but I really wanted to add that part with Kagome. It just didn't seem right to put it in the beginning of the next chapter.**

***long whistle***

**I can't believe this is on chapter 11 already. When first starting this fic out, I didn't even plan to write a second chapter. But this one became popular, people asked for more, so I gave them more. But I never thought that it would make it this far. I had first planned that for every chapter of this fic that was done, I had to have another chapter of my other fic One Day, One Night already posted. But then my priorities changed when I lost my first inspiration for that fic and this one was in more demand.**

**But this fic will go far. I already have all the chapters up until 20 planned out, and I still have barely begun it. I don't think that this'll crack 40, but it's a start.**

**I'm very very proud of this fic and the work I've put into it, and I'm especially proud of this chapter. I think it's one of my best.**

**And Im just also really happy to have improved my writting skills. I'm that much closer to creating that story that all of you readers deserve. Without your love and support, I would not have been able to continue this. It would have remained a one chapter incomplete story that many of you seem to hate.**

**Thankies to all who reviewed the last chapter!**

**norainubuchai**

**Namike**

**Dark Dream Angel**

**LoVe23**

**Again, reviews are always welcome, especially if they are suggestions on how I can improve anything. What you liked, what you didn't like, I want to know it all so I can make this better.**

**THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!**

**Blessings!**

**Miss Saigon11**


	13. Setbacks

Hello! I have returned from the semi-dead! I say dead becasue I've been basically M.I.A. for months without an update on this story or my profile and I say semi becasue I have been submitting other works. Of course, if you subscribe to my author alerts you'd've known that.

**So...School started. And this year was supposed to be about me. Well, it kinda hasn't so far. Bam, the very first day of school I get sucked into drama that I didn't want to be apart of, but it was inevitable for me because I kinda _was _the problem, so to speak. A guy friend of mine has developed a crush on me and the way he's gone about showing it was more creepy than cute. At the beginning of the year he seemed to be constantly following me, walking me to almost every one of my classes and even entering one of my classrooms and waiting for me at the end of class. He was being very open and very, very personal and he was starting to make me feel uncomfortable. And then he asked me to homecomming, like, two months before the dance. I turned him down, but after that I've felt very awkward and never really wanting to be left alone with him.**

**And then there was some friendship issues but I won't really go into that because I was being too sensitive and was most likely pre-menstral. PMSing. I hate it.**

**But it wasn't all bad things that were distracting me! Good things too! Like homecomming week! Yeah, homecomming!**

**So, at my school we have this overall theme that we all vote on and this year it was music. Then each individual grade level chose a sup-theme and my grade was Pop. Yeah, yeah, Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, and of course the King and Queen of Pop Michael Jackson and Madonna! Our floor that we had to decorate was amazing; There was this entire wall dedicated to Michael Jackson, showcasing paper cut-outs of his sick dance moves, and all over the walls were inspirational quotes from many of the singers. And we turned the doors to the floor in to iPods!**

**And on wednesday of homecomming week we dressed up in accordance to our theme. So I had to dress up as a pop star or a celebrity pop star. And I chose Madonna. Yeah, I decked myself out in a frickn' CONE BRA! I had a cone about a foot long sticking out of my chest! Hellz yeah it was awesome. I was the talk of the school, people took pictures, people called me brave, (people laughed at me but I think I'll leave that part out. XD) So all in one day I tested the lengths of my confidence and lost the very last shred of my dignity. Best day of my life.**

**I wish I could show post pictures but I can't right now. Sorry.**

**Anyways, before I set you off to go read the chapter, I want to make a point and ask you all something: **

**It's been decided that on October 20th, 2010, we will purple in honor of the recent gay suicides. Many of them suffered from homophobic abuse in their schools or in their homes. We want to take a stand to say that we will not tolerate this. Purple represents Spirit on the LGBTQ flag and that's exactly what we'd like all of you to have with you: spirit. Please know that times will get better and that you will meet people who will love you and respect you for who you are, no matter your sexuality. Please wear purple on October 20th to remember all the lives of LGBTQ youth that have been lost due to homophobia. Tell your friends, family, co-workers, neighbors and schools.**  
**R.I.P. **

**We've already got twenty eight thousand, three hundred and seventy people including me on facebook and I was hoping that we could add more by my spreading the word on here. If I offend anyone in any way by posting this, I give you permission to scream at me later in a message or something. But right now, all I'm concerned with is getting the word out. **

**And that's all. Thank you.**

**Disclaimer:****I do not own or make money off of Inuyasha. This was made purely for fans by a fan. It is in no way sponsored, approved, endorsed by or affiliated by Rumiko Takahashi or Viz Media, or any other affiliates. **

******Flames are welcome.**

* * *

Chapter 12—Setbacks

The knife slid soundlessly over the English muffin, spreading the butter. It was quiet—strangely quiet for the Mess Hall. Kagome's eyes lifted from her plate and she glanced around. Kids and teenagers alike were all huddled together at their tables, looking around and forming their own conspiracy theories. Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen.

Kagome's movements with the knife slowed as her appetite vanished. She set the muffin and the knife down on her plate. Yesterday, a bomb—most likely from the serial killer—had been planted in Kagome's cabin next to her bed. However, instead of triggering it herself, Inuyasha had accidentally triggered it when he was dropping off her clothes. And since he was the delinquent—Kagome frowned at the word—everyone immediately pointed fingers at him. Some even went as far as to claim he was actually a demon in a human's disguise, an idea that Kagome found absolutely ridiculous. Inuyasha was strictly human. Why would a demon want to disguise himself as such a weak creature?

The doors to the Hall opened and sure enough Inuyasha was the one who stepped through. He didn't look at anyone, though many if not all looked at him, and headed over to the peanut butter and jelly stand. Once completed, he took the sandwich and without getting a plate, tray, or drink, exited the Hall. The second the doors closed again the whispers started up. Kagome sighed and got up. No one stopped her.

"Inuyasha?" Kagome called when she stepped out of the building.

"I'm right here," Inuyasha said, closer than she thought. He was sitting with his back against the wall of the Mess Hall near the doors.

"Oh, there you are." Kagome sat down next to him. She pointed to his sandwich. "You're getting better at making those."

"Keh," Inuyasha grumbled and took another bite.

"So, you don't want to sit with us?"

"You crazy? After what happened yesterday I assumed that I would've been kicked out of here by now."

Kagome's eyes softened. "They're just rumors. Empty words with no meaning."

"You'd be surprised just how much words can sting. Being sheltered and loved all your life, I doubt that anyone had any bad thing to say about you." Inuyasha stated bitterly, chucking the rest of the sandwich into a nearby bush.

Kagome frowned. "I know you're upset but that doesn't mean that you can just take it out on me, you know! I've had my own fair share of sharp tongues and nasty words!"

"Whatever, Wench." Inuyasha said, standing up. "Look just leave me alone, alright? I don't want you hovering around me all the time."

"Fine!" Kagome snapped, getting to her feet. "I was just trying to cheer you up, but if you're going to be acting like this, then maybe I _will_ leave!" Still fuming, and muttering incoherent words, Kagome turned and went back inside the Mess Hall.

Inuyasha watched her leave. He placed a hand to his throbbing head. _'Dammit,' _

_

* * *

_

Kikyou gazed at her reflection in the mirror. She gave her lips one last swipe with the gloss wand and stood up. Now came the hard part; finding something to wear.

Two months ago picking out something to wear would be like picking out all the green ones in a bowl of her favorite candy—simple to do. A few weeks ago, picking out something to wear was like writing an essay—simple to do if she could focus and if she weren't so dizzy from lack of food. Now, picking out something to wear was like trying to understand boys—complicated and sometimes not even worth the effort.

On her hands and knees, Kikyou scrounged around under the beds for something to wear. Every morning Kikyou threw clothes around in fits of rage from never finding something to wear. Everything slid of her shoulders, hung low on her waist, or started sagging in places they weren't supposed to sag. She knew she was losing weight and it was scaring her.

She found a pair of jean shorts under one of her cabin mate's beds and slipped them on. They slid down. Frustrated, she kicked them off.

Then she spied a belt hung over one of the ladder rungs. She grabbed it, pulled the shorts back on, and slid the belt through the belt loops. Not even the last hole was small enough for her shrinking waist. Now, she was getting desperate. She grabbed a pair of scissors out of the bathroom, slipped the belt off, and began stabbing a new hole in the belt. Once the scissors stabbed through the leather, Kikyou slipped the belt through the loops on the shorts and fastened the belt using the scissor-made hole. They stayed. Kikyou breathed a sigh of relief.

She grabbed a pale green tank top off of one of the beds and pulled it over her head. It was loose, so she grabbed a hair tie, pulled the hem of the shirt tightly behind her, and wrapped the hair tie around it. She'd never had to do that before.

Sighing, she left the cabin, knowing that the time for breakfast was over.

* * *

Inuyasha sat in the clearing, far away from the others. He plucked a blade of grass and began twirling it around between his thumb and forefinger. Grass rustled behind him, signaling the approach of someone. Had Inuyasha been in his half-demon form, he would be growling. Because he knew who was behind him.

"Want to talk about it?" Miroku asked.

"No," Inuyasha curtly replied.

Almost as if he hadn't heard what his friend said, Miroku sat down next to him. "You know, I heard that fighting between two people is actually just pent up sexual frustration," Miroku said as if he were commenting on the weather.

"Are you trying to start something?" Inuyasha growled.

"Not really," Miroku replied, but the grin was still evident on his face.

Inuyasha, choosing to ignore the look, turned his attention to the blade of grass in his hand. "Look, I didn't mean to snap at her."

"I know," Miroku said, "it was just pent up sexual frustration."

"Hey! If I'm going to be sharing this crap with you then you'd better keep your damn perverted thoughts to yourself!" Inuyasha snapped. When the Miroku didn't say anything else and the grin disappeared, Inuyasha decided to continue. He still had a teasing twinkle in his eyes, but Inuyasha decided that that was the closest Miroku was going to get out of the gutter. "I didn't mean to snap, but I've just been really edgy lately."

Miroku nodded. "Yeah, well, being blamed for a bomb can put someone in a sour mood."

Inuyasha shook his head. "I've been edgy for a while. Ever since Sesshomaru came to the camp."

"Why?"

"You remember what happened in the cave, right?" Miroku nodded. "I talked to Sesshomaru about it. He said he'd look into it and get back to me but it's been a few days and I'm starting to get a bit worried."

Miroku raised an eyebrow. "Why? It's only been a few days."

Inuyasha shook his head again, getting frustrated. "When Sesshomaru looks into something it only takes him a day at most. He's got the best damn links in the world and the fact that he can't find anything about what happened tells me that he really doesn't have a damn clue what happened." He began ripping up the blade of grass. When that was done, he reached for a stick and snapped it into pieces.

Miroku sighed. "I know you're frustrated, but for now all you can do is wait for Sesshomaru to contact you."

"I know, but dammit, what am I supposed to do now?"

Miroku thought for a moment. "Well, what do you want to do now?"

"Find out who the hell is causing these accidents around here."

Again, Miroku sighed, this one more exasperated. "There's not much you can do about that now either."

Inuyasha threw the broken pieces of the stick down. "Well do you have any suggestions?"

Miroku was silent for a moment. Finally he opened his mouth to speak. "No, not really," he sighed.

"I have a suggestion," came a voice from behind.

Inuyasha frowned as he and Miroku turned to see Kouga standing behind them. He was glowering down at Inuyasha. Inuyasha quickly got to his feet so he wouldn't have to look up to the wolf. "Oh yeah? And what is that?"

"Apologize to her," Kouga stated simply, not having to elaborate as to who 'her' was.

Inuyasha looked over his shoulder at the girl in question. She and Sango were crouching next to a nearby stream that cut through the area. They were laughing and splashing each other and were just having a good time. Although he could tell that she wasn't as cheerful as she usually was. He turned back to Kouga, pretending that he hadn't noticed. "Why? She looks fine to me." Beside him he heard Miroku sigh, but he ignored that too.

Kouga's upper lip curled in frustration. "Don't try to be cute you idiot!"

Inuyasha's face mimicked Kouga's. "What the hell do you mean by that?" he snarled.

Kouga's resolve snapped. He lashed out at Inuyasha, curling is hands around his collar and yanking him closer. "Listen you stupid piece of crap! You know just as well as I do that she is not happy, and even though I hate to admit it I know it's because of you!"

Inuyasha ripped Kouga's hands away from his shirt and took a step back. "Damn impudent wolf, get your hands off me!" He opened his mouth to speak more but got cut off when Kouga grabbed his collar with one hand and struck him clean across the face. Miroku had shot to his feet as Inuyasha stumbled back a bit, surprised by the sudden blow, and his hand whipped to the swollen area. Already he could feel the bruise forming.

"Why don't you stop being so damn arrogant and apologize?" Kouga snapped in a low voice. He let go of Inuyasha's collar. "Just hurry up and be a man already, you damn kid!" One last glare in Inuyasha's direction, and Kouga turned on his heel to walk away.

Inuyasha couldn't help but glance behind him. And there, sure enough, Kagome was looking back.

* * *

The water was much colder than Kagome thought. When Sango splashed her hand into the water and sent that small wave right at Kagome, the girl shrieked and jumped at the icy coldness of it. "Sango!" she laughed.

"What?" Sango said, feigning innocence.

Instead of answering her, Kagome crouched back down and splashed her friend with her own wave of water all without missing a beat. This time it was Sango who was shrieking and jumping. Her eyes went wide with excitement. "Oh-ho! Looks like you can dish it but you can't take it!" Kagome scooped up some more water and tossed it in Sango's direction. Sango jumped back from it but still got her shins doused in water.

"Okay okay! Stop it!" Sango laughed as she held up her hands in mock surrender.

"Damn impudent wolf, get your hands off me!"

The outburst was enough to still Kagome's hand in midair. She and Sango looked at each other and then both pairs of eyes turned upward to see Inuyasha and Kouga engaged in a small tussle. Kagome nearly jumped to her feet when Kouga's fist collided with Inuyasha's chin.

"Just hurry up and be a man already, you damn kid!"

Sango looked over at Kagome, but her eyes were still fixated on Inuyasha, eyebrows creased. That's when Inuyasha turned and their gazes caught. Several expressions flitted across his face; embarrassment, shame, guilt, and….anger?

Kagome opened her mouth to say something but before she could, Inuyasha turned and sprinted out of the area. Miroku jumped up and raced after.

The merriment from before had evaporated from the air. No one shouted. No one laughed. No one even talked. After a while, Ai spoke up. She declared that there was nothing more to be done here and she told them to go back to camp. She tried to play the calm, cool, I-don't-give-a-rat's-ass-about-what-just-happened, but from the way her shoulders were set, Kagome—and everyone else that knew the young woman—could tell that she was just as upset about what just happened as the rest of them were.

* * *

"I swear to God, Miroku, if you don't get your ass out of here and stop following me…" Inuyasha trailed off, trying to come up with a good threat. After knowing his friend for eleven years, he had made a lot of threats, most of which concerned his "cursed" hands and perverted mind.

"It's not polite to swear, Inuya—Hey!" Miroku ducked out of the way of a flying black sneaker. He straightened up just in time to catch the other one that was flying at him. Soon, the shoes were followed by socks and then a belt. "Uh, Inuyasha?"

"These clothes are so damn restricting!" Inuyasha griped as he tore the collar of his shirt. Silver was bleeding down his scalp, replacing the black and two dog ears popped up on the top of his head. Miroku sighed. One of these days, if he wasn't careful, Inuyasha was going to get found out.

Suddenly, Inuyasha leaped into the air and landed on the bough of a high branch. He looked down at Miroku. "Will you please leave?"

Miroku sighed as she set the discarded clothing items at the base of the tree. Inuyasha muttered something about not needing them, but Miroku ignored him. "No, Inuyasha, I won't." Inuyasha groaned but again Miroku ignored him. You get fairly adept at ignoring a whiny half-demon after years of friendship. "I want to talk to you about something."

"Okay," Inuyasha said, settling against the trunk of the tree and closing his eyes. He was fully prepared to tune out the ramblings of his friend and just try to find some peace and quiet, and he was doing a rather good job too. But there was one word that caught his attention. "Hey! I'm not a coward!"

"Really?" Miroku said, glancing up at him. His eyes had no trace of amusement or light in them. He was being dead serious. "Every time she takes one step close to you or someone mentions her, you go scampering off in the other direction with your tails between your legs." Inuyasha grimaced at the reference to a dog, but Miroku just kept on talking so there was no room for him to yell at him. "This morning, she tried to talk to you and you snapped at her. And just now, Kouga tried to talk to you and you even got a nice shiner to prove how well your conversation went."

"For the love of!" Inuyasha shouted. Then he quickly dropped down until he was right next to Miroku. "What the hell do you want me to do?"

"I want you to be honest." Miroku answered calmly.

Inuyasha's golden eyes narrowed. "If you're trying to pull some 'be true to yourself' therapeutic crap, so help me I'll…" Again, the threat goes unfinished. Miroku held up his hand.

"I don't mean that. Well, kinda, but I want you to be honest with me as well as yourself. What's going on Inuyasha?"

The young man in question didn't answer right away. He was hardly ever honest with other people, and screw being honest with himself. His whole entire life was a lie; he was living under a disguise that he abhorred, he had to lie about his family, and not to mention kids from school had forced ideals onto him that he was all but forced to live up too. There was no way that Inuyasha was going to say anything that was on his mind and he opened his mouth to say so. But that was when he saw the look in Miroku's eyes. They were almost…imploring, in a way. Something clicked in the back of Inuyasha's mind, but a shutter came down on the thought. Inuyasha blinked then shook his head. "I…I dunno, Miroku. It's like, these accidents aren't any accidents. And after yesterday it's clear that Kagome's involved. After all, she's been around every accident that happens here, and even the victim of two of them. But…I almost feel as if…as if _I'm _also involved somehow. I was around all of the accidents too." He stopped and looked at Miroku. "But I haven't been directly attacked. That's why I'm so confused. I want to…protect" he grimaced "her from whatever the hell is going on but at the same time I feel as if she's getting hurt because of me."

"So it's like you want to keep her close to help her but at the same time you're involuntarily pushing her away on the off-chance that she getting hurt because of you." Miroku concluded for him.

Inuyasha brought his thumb up to his mouth and bit down hard on the claw. "I guess so," he mumbled around the claw, realizing how incredibly silly that sounded.

His tongue swiped up against the claw and Inuyasha jerked it out, cursing as he did so. Sometimes, he got so used to being human, that he would forget when he was in his hanyou form. And that was really depressing to him. Was he forgetting who he was? Was that even possible? Had all the lies and deceit finally became so frequent that it felt like reality? He hadn't been changing into his true form as of late, even back before he had been forced to the camp. He shook his head to rid himself of the thought.

"So what are you going to do?" Miroku asked after Inuyasha calmed down from the slice.

Inuyasha shrugged and kept his gaze on his clawed hands—his real hands—"Don't know."

* * *

Voices could be heard from the inside of the cabin. Ayame twisted the knob and the door opened with a click and a creak.

"—just tell me what happened!"

"It's nothing to do with you, Kagome," came Kouga's voice. Ayame stepped in and the door shut behind her, catching the attention of the two in the room.

Kagome was sitting on one of the bottom bunks with Kouga standing in front of her, looking as if he'd been pacing around. "Ayame," Kagome said when she caught sight of her friend.

Ayame smiled a bit. "Can I talk to Kouga a bit?"

Kagome nodded and Ayame stepped to the side to let her pass. She shot one last look over her shoulder before the door shut, blocking her out of the cabin. Ayame turned to Kouga. "I don't think I have to explain myself," she said as she folded her arms across her chest.

Kouga sighed and sat down on the bed, almost in the same spot that Kagome had been occupying moments before. "Aya," he said, using Ayame's childhood nickname. "That guy just makes my blood boil."

Ayame crossed to her fellow wolf demon and sat down next to him, slightly turned so her front was angled towards him. "Why?"

Kouga's jaw clenched. "He's arrogant and a jerk. He's got an ego that is too big to fit even outside." Ayame inwardly chuckled at this; Kouga may not realize it, but he was describing himself as well. Minus the jerk part, in her opinion. "But what really pisses me off is that he hurts her."

Ayame looked down, but nodded. "I understand."

"Do you?" Kouga asked, looking over at her. "Do you really? I don't think that I could ever love anyone more than I love Kagome; do you really understand why I get so angry with that guy?"

The words sent a stab of pain through her heart, but she refused to give into the tears that threatened to fall. Instead, she sucked in a deep breath and lifted her head to look him directly in his azure eyes. "Yeah, Kouga. I really do."

* * *

Ai was sitting cross-legged on the couch in the counselor's cabin with Mitsuya sitting next to her, picking at his nails. Her brown eyes slid over to where the timid man sat. "Hey," she said in her smooth voice.

Mitsuya's shoulder's hitched a bit and he turned to look at her. "Yes?" he said.

"Have you noticed that it seems that all you and Ai do all day is sit here?"

"Oh," Mitsuya said as he pulled on knee up to his chest. "I guess I haven't."

Ai set her feet down on the floor, the bells on her ankles jingling. "Ai really hopes that Midoriko will still pay her the full amount, even though she's had to send her kids back to the cabin more than once."

"Yeah, me too."

Ai smirked at the sight of Mitsuya, almost curled up in a little ball on his side of the couch. He was such an apprehensive young man; sometimes it made he want to laugh. And then other times he made her want to cry. She had never met anyone so old and yet still be as innocent as he. Suddenly she lightly punched him on the shoulder. Mitsuya let out a startled cry as he looked over at her with his wide eyes. "We got the worst campers, didn't we?" she said, slipping out of her third-person speech for a second.

Mitsuya just continued to look at her for a bit before he smiled a tiny, innocent smile. "Yeah. We did, didn't we?"

* * *

Soon enough, lunch time rolled around. This time, Inuyasha decided that he would try not running away and sit with the others this time. He entered the Mess Hall and immediately all eyes were on him. He just ignored their suspicious and accusatory glares and headed over to the peanut butter and jelly stand. After he had finally succeeded in making one on his own, he'd been going back ever meal time. He liked the feeling of being able to make something on his own and not seem like that typical rich boy who needed servants to do everything for him, even tie his shoelaces.

He got to the stand and slid the knife of jelly expertly across the bread without breaking apart the bread. Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he looked down. His eyes widened a fraction. "Kikyou?" he asked.

Kikyou stood behind him, hands clasped behind her back. "Hey," she said in a voice that was softer than her normal pitch.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

She smiled and laughed. "Making a sandwich." Inuyasha just hummed in response. An awkward silence passed as they both continued through the line to get more food. Then she spoke up again. "Inuyasha?" He hummed again, signaling that he heard her. "Can I ask you something?"

That's when he looked over at her. "What?"

"Have you ever…wanted to tell someone something, but didn't know if you should? Like, you didn't know how they'd react, or think?"

"Keh. Oh yeah," he said darkly.

"So what should I do?" she asked him. "Should I tell him?"

Inuyasha's eyebrows scrunched together a bit and his eyes flitted to behind her shoulder for a second, before returning to her. "Uh, why exactly are you asking me?"

Kikyou just ignored the question and took a step closer to him. The only thing that kept her back was the tray of food he held in front of him. "Inuyasha, there's something—"

She was interrupted by a piercing bell. Inuyasha fumbled with the cell phone that he kept in his pocket. He opened it, stared at the screen for a bit, then curled his lip and snapped the phone shut, shoving it back in his pocket in irritation.

"What was it?" Kikyou asked, forgetting her question momentarily.

Inuyasha just grunted and shook his head. "Some girl from my school confessing her love for me. It's really annoying." He took a bottle of soda off the counter and looked back at Kikyou. "Were you saying something?"

Kikyou nodded slowly. "There was. But, I see what I have to do now." Then she left the line quickly, leaving her tray of food and Inuyasha staring at her back in confusion.

* * *

The afternoon lunch hour stared out normal enough. Good food was served and even Inuyasha had decided to join their lunch table again. But when Kagome felt something hot and _wet _hit the back of her neck, she jumped to her feet and cried out. Spaghetti was dripping off of her neck and sauce was staining the back of her shirt. The lump of food then fell and hit the floor with a _plop!_

There was a pause.

And then suddenly food was flying everywhere. Guys called out warrior cries as the pelted their friends with half eaten food and girls shrieked and tried to shield themselves the mess. Counselors shouted above all the noise and tried to calm the uproar. Many of the kids avoided them and jumped up on the table. Soon, the adults were yanking kids down and pulling them away from food, but that still didn't stop them.

It wasn't until Midoriko's loud and positively _angry _voice boomed through the microphone did the campers calm down.

"I am very disappointed in all of you!" she scolded. "Especially in you older campers! You should be more mature and know how to behave yourselves, not egg on the younger kids! But I'm mostly disappointed in whoever started this whole shenanigan!" She went on and on about the importance of morality and how events like this was not viewed as proper in the adult world where many of the campers would be heading out too soon. And then she dismissed them, without even letting them finish their lunch. The campers filed out of the hall, mumbling incoherent words.

Kagome felt an arm loop around hers and she turned to see Kikyou standing behind her, holding some mops with buckets at her feet. "Hey," Kikyou said. "Someone asked me to clean up. Will you help?"

Kagome smiled. "Sure."

The water sloshed around in the bucket and splattered when Kagome set the mop down on the floor. No matter how soft she tried to set it down, her feet always got sprayed with water. Kagome made a face and tried to shake of the water.

"So," Kikyou said as she pushed the water around with the mop, picking up food particles. "How are things? You know, with you, Sango, and Ayame? We never get to hang out since we're in separate groups."

"It's always one of us isn't it?" Kagome mused. "But they're all fine. Sango seems a bit agitated for some reason and Ayame's been a bit down as of late."

"Yeah?"

Kagome hummed in response and continued mopping.

"Kagome?" Kikyou said after a short silence.

"Hmm?"

Kikyou bit her lip and leaned on the mop. "Uh, never mind."

Kagome looked over at her friend with a slightly confused look only to catch her tugging on the belt loops of her jean shorts. And come to think of it, the straps of her tank top were a little loose too. And it was boxy around her waist. And her shorts were hanging low on her hips. And her….

She was losing weight. "Kikyou? Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said, not looking up from the floor. "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You keep pulling up your shorts and pulling at your tank top straps."

"Oh," Kikyou said with a light laugh in her tone, only it was a bit weak. "These shorts have never fit me. And this shirt is Yuki's who's a bit bigger than me." She looked up, a touch of alarm in her eyes. "But don't tell her I said that."

"Sure," Kagome said absently. "But Kikyou," Kikyou stopped and looked up. "You just don't look so well."

Kikyou looked down at her shorts. "I'm fine," she all but mumbled.

Kagome wanted to say more, but decided not to press the subject. They had just stopped fighting; she didn't want to fight anymore.

"Kagome?" Kikyou said again after a while. Kagome looked up at her. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Kikyou opened her mouth but hesitated. Her mouth began to close. "What sort of relationship do you have with Inuyasha?" she asked quickly before she lost her nerve.

Kagome nearly slipped on the slicked surface of the floor. _'Inuyasha?' _She looked over at Kikyou who was giving her an imploring look but also one of nerves. "Um," she began but stopped. They were friends, weren't they? Just friends who hung out like friends. But they did have their moments. Back in the cave when the lights had been turned out she had grabbed hold of Inuyasha's hand and he hadn't pulled away. And then the time he was in the infirmary after he got knocked out. She remembered his slip up when he called her challenge a date and her face heated slightly. Then there was the time when he opened up a bit about his past and what his parents had planned for them all to do as a family. His past was a painful one, that's all that she could really gather so she had felt touched that he had opened up to her like that even after only a short while of knowing her. And then just the other day after she followed him into the woods after the bomb; the way he held her, the way he showed his vulnerable side. Those were moments that seemed to go beyond the simple 'just friends.'

Then she thought about all there bad times. The jabs, the insults, and everything that made Inuyasha the number one jerk she had ever met. And unfortunately, his bad outweighed the good.

"We're just friends," she said simply.

But were they? The word friends didn't really seem to fit them since they still knew so little about each other. But acquaintances didn't quite fit either because at the same time it's like they had known each other for ages.

Just what _was _her relationship with Inuyasha?

"Really?" Kikyou said. She headed over to Kagome with long strides, eyes wide. "Then I need you to help me with something."

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Kagome I need you to help me get Inuyasha."

* * *

**Ahem. Yes, that is how I decided to end it. I've actually been pretty excited about this chapter because I've been planning this bit with Kikyou and Kagome since a little after I first started the fic. Chapter 4 maybe? And whataya know, it wiggled it's way into chapter 12!**

**And it also seems that a little bit of AiXMitsuya worked its way in here as well. Wonder how that happened? They make for an interesting couple pairing, no?**

**That AyameXKouga bit didn't work its way in. I've been ignoring them and their relationship as of late so I plopped it in there.**

**So not a very interesting chapter but a cliffy ending that'll sure to arouse some annoyances.**

**Oh! I had written the scene with Kagome and Kikyou when they were talking about Inuyasha back when I came up with it. I searched around my room for the notebook in which I stashed it away in. I didn't find the notebook, but I did find a bag of walnuts! So I ate one! **

**Plus, I like this version better.**

**Oh yeah, Kikyou's cabin mates. I've mentioned them once in chapter...7 I think and again in a chapter between 7 and this one but their names changed. In chapter 7 ther was Satsuki (who's actually the counselor so she doesn't count) and then Ami and Kitty. Then in the other chapter I've got Kikyou talking about Yuki and she mentions Yuki again in this chapter...my mistake. It seems like Kikyou's got a lot of cabinmates, huh?**

**Thanks to my lovely reviews from my equally lovely reviewers!**

**LoVe23**

**Namike**

**Jarri Scythe**

**inuyashi12**

**Kag**

**SimplyAngel (I'm sorry I couldnt add in those little 'o's at the beginning and end of your name; the uploader was being stupid and kept cutting your name out.)**

**I want to make a point that I've been trying to personaly reply to each review, but life gets in the way and I loose track of who I've responded to. I hope I can do better after this chapter!**

**That being said, I would appreciate it if you would take the time to review this chapter! Whether you wanna critique it, flame it, praise it, or just drop in and say "hey!" it'll make my day either way! Please and thank you!**

**Goodness, it's 1:30 a.m.! Why do I always finish these chapters and then post them at the odd hours of the night? **

**Blessings!**

**Miss Saigon11**


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